Scholarship And Social Trends: A Study Of Kuige School From The Perspective Of Sociology Of Knowledge

From the late19th to the early20th century, the Chinese society was in an unprecedented turbulence. Against such a background, sociology was introduced into China, and since then, the establishment and development of this discipline in China have been closely linked to the situation of China featured by domesticate strife and foreign aggression. During that time, the study of sociology mainly focuses on its practical meaning, namely to guide the social development in China with the study of sociology. Realizing this practical meaning was an honorable mission shouldered by the first generation of Chinese sociologists, as well as the major characteristics of Chinese sociology.In order to reach this target, from the mid-1930s, a group of scholars like Wu Wenzao and Fei Xiaotong adopted the method of "Community Research" to study the development of Chinese society with "Functionalism" as their theoretical basis. The base of their research was Kui Ge (Yan Jing-Yun Nan Sociology Study Center). From then on, a number of achievements have been attained in the domestication of sociology, and "Yan Jing School" was established.From the perspective of the interaction between academic study and the trend of times, this thesis analyzes the relations among sociologists, academic studies and their times in terms of their interaction. With profound research on the history of Chinese sociology, it is found that during the changeable times, the relation between sociologists and the times demonstrates the following characteristics:First, the sociology which derives from and also develops with the special times reveals its characteristics of "passiveness", which means scholars focus more on the study of crucial issues of their times. It serves both as the advantage and limit of sociology.