20 May 2026, Volume 14 Issue 3

    

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  The Organizational Foundation of Married Working Wives’ Housework Time Inequality 

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 5-25.

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  Alleviating the household chore burden on employed married women holds significant policy and practical implications. Existing literature puts too much emphasis on social-cultural structure and individual micro factors. By introducing an indigenous meso-level organizational perspective， the danwei system， this paper analyzes data from the China Family Panel Studies（CFPS）2020 and finds:（1）the danwei system exerts a significant influence， compared to those in the 
  private sector， married women in the public sector bear less housework burden.（2）This influence operates primarily through two mechanisms: resource support and value transmission， while working hours partially offset this relationship.（3）Employment itself， both inside and outside the public sector， provides a significant supportive effect，but employment within the public sector offers additional protection. This study provides a localized Chinese perspective on household labor inequality and，using latest empirical evidence, partially addresses the fundamental question of whether the danwei system still matters in contemporary China.
  
  
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  Family Educational Burdens and Women’s Intention to Have a Second Child in China

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 26-46.

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   This study examines the educational burdens faced by families with one child after the implementation of the “double reduction” policy and fertility-support policies， as well as the impact of these burdens on mothers’ intention to have a 
  second child. Using data from the 2023 national survey on the after-school lives of Chinese children， the findings reveal that while economic and time-related pressures on rearing children at the compulsory education stage tend to diminish， emotional burdens related to children’s academic development and occupational prospects remain significant. Families with high socioeconomic status（SES）experience greater economic and time burdens， whereas those with lower SES report elevated levels of emotional stress. Higher levels of economic， time， and emotional burdens are negatively associated with mothers’ intentions to have more children. Moreover， the negative correlation between educational burdens and fertility intentions is more pronounced among lower-SES families. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of China’s persistently low fertility rates and provides implications for the coordinated improvement of population policies and education policies.
  
  
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  The Rationalized Reconstruction of Intimate Relationships: Strategic Practices of Family Law Firms in Intervening in Marital Crises

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 47-69.

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  In recent years, law firms have become increasingly involved in marital crises, emerging as important actors in shaping and managing intimate relationships. Drawing on ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews, this study examines how family law firms intervene in marital crises by translating emotional crises into legal issues, structuring temporal processes, and reconfiguring property relations. Through these practices, marital crises are transformed into issues that can  be  addressed through market-based legal services. In particular, law firms strategically endow property with multiple cultural meanings—signifying emotional commitment, enforcing responsibility, and securing future well-being—making it a central mechanism in managing marital crises. This article conceptualizes these dynamics as the “rationalized reconstruction of intimate relationships”, a term referring to the process through which intimate relationships are rendered calculable, assessable, and actionable under institutional and market forces. Focusing on concrete legal strategies, this study shows how family law firms, as market-based professional entities, intervene in marital crises and contribute to the rationalized reconstruction of intimate relationships in everyday practice.
  
  
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  Small Towns and Community Studies: W. Lloyd Warner and the Community Studies of the Chicago School around World War II

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 70-92.

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  Taking the community studies of small towns carried out by W. Lloyd Warner around World War II as examples， this paper describes the academic shifts within the Chicago School of Sociology. Warner’s community studies not only reintroduced small towns into the scope of community research， but also focused on three vast regions that epitomized the course of American history: New England， Deep South， and the new frontier of the Midwest， and explored three key characteristics of American society: the elite order， caste segregation， and direct democracy. His studies transcended the first-generation Chicago School’s inclination toward local societies and constituted a direct inquiry into the question of 
  “Americanism”. During the same period， the Yenching School was also advancing community studies toward the broader goal of national construction from the perspective of small towns. The explorations of the two schools demonstrate how 
  community studies could serve as a base for mutual learning among civilizations.
  
  
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  From Community to Society:A Reinterpretation of Park’s Human Ecology

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 93-115.

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   Whether human ecology adequately addresses the social and cultural dimensions of human life remains a contested question in sociology. Drawing on the distinction between community and society， this paper offers a close reading 
  of the “pyramid of human relations” — a schema Park articulated in his later years — and argues that the central concern of his sociological thought lies in how the superstructure of society can be cultivated upon the biotic substructure of community. The movement from community to society is， in essence， a progression of human relations from symbiosis to consensus， and it unfolds along two intertwined lines. On the one hand， human beings successively establish territorial， economic， political， and cultural orders; on the other， immigrants undergo a process of socialization marked by competition， conflict， accommodation， and assimilation. The former corresponds to the morphological inquiry of human ecology into the material foundations of society， proceeding through community-based investigation; the latter is embodied in a life-history approach that attends to public sentiment and the distinctive traits of the marginal man， extending into an etiological reflection on the dearth of personal communication in urban society. The two lines of inquiry are mutually constitutive， together articulating Park’s deeper meditation on how the “psychophysical integration” of human society becomes possible.
  
  
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  The Triple Movements of Knowledge: A Sociology of Knowledge Approach to the Paradigm Shift toward Community Study

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 116-140.

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  Through a sociology-of-knowledge lens， this article revisits the 1930s shift in Yenching sociology from “social surveys” to “community study.” Drawing on the correspondence of Wu Wenzao，and Fei Xiaotong with Raymond Firth archived in the LSE， along with Rockefeller Foundation and Yenching University archival records， we advance a “triple movements of knowledge” framework: international collaboration， domestic translation， and paradigm dissemination. This research 
  shows how a peripheral scholarly community， under an unequal global academic structure， translated external resources into locally trainable and replicable practices. The contribution of this article lies in moving beyond an intellectualhistorical narrative toward a mechanism-based explanation of a paradigm change， which offers insights for institutional innovation in contemporary Chinese sociology that is at the intersection of international resources and locally grounded research agenda. 
  
  
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  Biosocial Co-evolution and Non-determining Anthropology

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 141-164.

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   In the contemporary context of human-originated technologies considerably transforming natural gene pools， cross-species relations， and biological evolution routes， anthropologists draw on their classical studies on biology and society to 
  explore three ways of thinking that transcend the classical socio-cultural and historical determination: practice theory， mutual transformations between the social and the biological， and the bio-social co-evolution of humans and their social-ecological worlds. These non-determining approaches aim to answer a fundamental question: how will humans， once created by the world to which they belong， change this world so as to establish and maintain a mutual-emergence between the humans and the world.
  
  
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  Exploring Fengtu and Repairing Modernity: Reframing the “Bazaar Economy Model” through the Field Experience of the Jinuo Mountain Products Marketplace

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 165-185.

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   Drawing upon the Jinuo Mountain Products Marketplace as its ethnographic foundation， this paper revisits the applicability and limitations of Clifford Geertz’s “Bazaar Economy Model” within the sphere of food consumption. While the conventional model prioritizes search behavior under conditions of information scarcity—presupposing the rational actor and market modernity while focusing on social embeddedness as a compensatory mechanism—this study introduces a perspective of “fengtu-driven exploration.” It reframes the practice of “going to periodic marketplace（ganji）” as an affective “unriddling” of everyday minutiae and authenticity， transcending purely functional economic transactions. By analyzing the practices of “relational proximity” mediated by food between outsiders and locals， this paper reveals how such exploratory activities temporarily suture the alienation between modern subjects and their sustenance. Ultimately， this study opens up a framework centered on the mindset of “interest-driven explorers” and “cultural experiencers”， offering an alternative theoretical framework for studying Chinese periodic marketplaces in the contexts of cultural tourism and ecological 
  consumption.
  
  
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  How Order and Vitality Coexist：A Case Study of the Formalization of the Recycling Industry

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 186-209.

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  The formalization of the informal economy is a significant aspect of current urban transformation， yet it has received insufficient attention in existing research. This paper takes the recycling industry in City S as a case study to explore 
  how order and vitality can coexist during the formalization. The investigation reveals that formalization is a multi-faceted cooperative governance network that integrates institution， society， and market to balance the order and vitality of the informal recycling market. Institutionalized governance builds a governable order through spatial fixation and organizational integration; socialized governance maintains market trust and community embeddability by relying on the relationship networks and informal norms of practitioners; marketized governance enhances the industry’s value and legitimacy through recycling industry upgrading and the reconstruction of waste culture symbols. The combined effect of this multi-faceted cooperative governance network breaks the “crackdown - resurgence” cycle in the governance of the informal economy， providing an empirical reference for understanding the transformation of urban governance logic from exclusion to inclusion.
  
  
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  Struggle for Life and Interdependence： A Comparison of Views on Civilization between Freud and Elias

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 210-232.

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  Both Sigmund Freud and Elias understand “civilization” as a historical process deeply bound up with the historical formation of human psychological structures and social structures， yet their theoretical tones are markedly different: the former views the civilizing process as an existential inevitability stemming from the eternal struggle between Eros and Thanatos， while the latter regards it as the historical generation of human interdependence. The crux of this divergence is this: Freud takes the movement of repression in negating external coercion as the basis of civilization， from which the internal drive of humans toward larger communities originates; Elias， however， proceeds from social power relations， incorporating 
  the mutually constitutive relationship between repression and its constraints into the civilizing process itself. In other words， the so-called “struggle for life” and “interdependence” actually represent two different understandings of the fundamental human condition：one holds that humans are forever struggling against fetters and frustrations， with civilization serving as a compensation for this suffering; the other believes that humans and the world are in a constant state of mutual shaping， where conflict and harmony are merely different manifestations of this dialectic. Confronted with the specter of World War II， it was precisely this difference that led Freud to plunge into the maelstrom of reality， while it saved Elias from the pain of despair.
  
  
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  Building Shuijing County into a “Strong County of Organic Industry in China”

  社会学评论. 2026, 14(3): 233-256.

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  This paper, grounded in Shuijing County’s industrial practice, examines the evolution of institutional environments and the structural dynamics of the actor-network across different stages of development. By analyzing the external environment, the strategic actions of diverse actors, and the market’s structural and transactional order, the study reveals a nuanced transformation. The notion of a“Strong County of Organic Industry” was initially proposed by entrepreneurs in the county. Over time，this vision evolved from a mere concept into an industrial reality through the collaborative efforts of multiple stakeholders. During the incubation， initiation， and growth phases of the organic industry， the actor-network underwent a metamorphosis from a sociallyoriented network to an institutionalized network， and finally to an organized network. 
  Throughout the development process， the Shuijing County government’s role shifted from a passive observer to a proactive leader， and subsequently to a service provider—oscillating between the background and the forefront. This role transition underscores a continuous quest to delineate the optimal boundary between an active government and an effective market， and to foster a symbiotic relationship between governance and industry.