In this seminar, we will explore the history of China in the Twentieth Century from the per-spective of its élites. Different from the ruling classes, élites are not primarily defined by their production relationship, even less inheritance, but by the organizational structures and mutual self-recognition that supports their status in society. Conflicts between competing élites have been among the drivers of revolutions. Who were the men (and women) who shaped modern China? How did China’s modernization transform the constituency of élite groups and their self-perception? How did they organize themselves in conjunction with or opposition to state power? What were their conflicts? This course posits that the political turning points in Chi-nese history also went along with major reshuffling of China’s élite formations. Late Qing re-forms contributed to the demise of the “scholar-official” and the “gentry” as major élite groupings. The Revolution of 1911, that toppled the Qing dynasty, though generally consid-ered of limited importance with meagre political results, still precipitated an unprecedented rise of new professional, military and commercial élites. The Communist takeover in 1949 raised the “workers and peasants” into the status of ruling classes, at least nominally, but also created the “cadre” and the “intellectual” as new élite categories, while the 1990s saw the rise of a “technocracy.” The seminar will approach these categories and groups by combining readings from the sociological research literature with student presentations on specific topics. The seminar part is open to students across campus. Prior knowledge of the Chinese language is not required.
- Trainer/in: Elisabeth Kaske