China's Scientific Elite. By Cong Cao. [London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. 256 pp. £60.00; $95.00. ISBN 0-415-32757-1.]

Extract

Since the completion of his doctoral dissertation in sociology at Columbia University in 1997, Cong Cao has published a number of very insightful articles on various aspects of China's scientific elite. He has now taken the next step and, incorporating some material from these earlier publications, given us the most systematic effort to examine this important social group. His agenda is certainly ambitious. Inspired by one of his mentors, the late, great sociologist Robert K. Merton, Cao employs the Mertonian sociology of science framework, using the norm of universalism and the theory of social stratification in science to determine the basis for the formation of this elite group. Using membership in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as the indicator of elite status, Cao sets himself four primary tasks. The first – and the major focus of the book – is to examine the various factors that might have played a role in one's selection to this Academy, including social origins, the influence of mentors, the quality of research, political party membership, and personal relations. Secondly, he examines the impact of major historical changes on the development of science and the formation of this elite. Thirdly, he seeks to put the Chinese case into a comparative perspective, often citing the work of another of his mentors, Harriet Zuckerman, a leading scholar of the American scientific elite, among other sources. Finally, he addresses the role this elite has played in influencing the nation's policy making and urging autonomy and democracy in scientific research and societal life.