NYU-ECNU Institute for Social Development at NYU Shanghai Hosts Forum in the 2015 Chinese Sociological Association Annual Conference, Changsha, China

The Institute co-hosted, together with the Department of Sociology and the Research Center of Social Development at Jilin University and the School of Social Development (SSD) of East China Normal University (ECNU), a Forum on Sociology of Development with the theme of “Urban and Rural Development and Social Governance” at the 2015 Chinese Sociological Association (CSA) Annual Conference, held in Changsha on July 11-12, 2015. The CSA Annual Conference is the leading sociology conference in China, and this year the conference hosted 59 forums with more than 1,300 papers presented and more than 1,600 scholars and representatives attended from China, Korea, and Japan. 

Scholars and experts in the related fields from Jilin University, ECNU, and across the nation gathered for the Forum on Sociology of Development. This forum provided in-depth presentations that inspired vibrant discussions on the theory and practical issues in the development within and between urban and rural areas. Topics included theory, case study, and empirical research on Sociology of Development, comparative development study, urban community and social governance, etc.  Dr. Jun Wen, Co-Director of the Institute hosted and presented at the forum. Many graduate students from the SSD at ECNU also attended and made presentations.

The conference included forums and presentations on such as Social Development Theory and Practice, Migration and Urban Governance, Social Capital and Social Governance, Sociology of Culture, Urbanization and Urban and Rural Planning and Management. The conference also paid close attention to the evolving new policies corresponding to social issues in contemporary China such as employment and relationship between supply and demand, income distribution, and occupational structural change. These issues carry great implications to building a civilized modern society in China.

The forum on “Urban and Rural Development and Social Governance” co-hosted by the Institute is the first Thematic Forum on Sociology of Development in CSA, which is scheduled to be held for three consecutive years at CSA. Upon completion of the third-year forum in 2017 at CSA, an Association on Sociology of Development is expected to launch in China.