Theory from East Asia: Cultural Sociology Beyond the Binaries

This session will be a panel of 4-5 oral presentations followed by a Q&A/discussion.

East Asia presents a unique case for theory building across sociology and social theory. Not only have East Asian societies posed persistent challenges to Western-originated social theories, but they also harbour rich intellectual traditions that can be distilled into sociological insights. Yet despite existing and emergent debates on East Asian Modernities, epistemological binaries – between the coloniser and the colonised, western and eastern, white and black – continue to shape dominant social theories. This session invites novel and agenda-setting papers that set new directions for researching East Asian societies (including, but not limited to China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) through a cultural sociological perspective – one that takes ideas, values, and beliefs as important driving forces of social transformation, and that explores sociological questions in cultural phenomena (arts, popular culture, lifestyles, etc.). We ask how engagement with East Asian cultures can contribute to a more global sociology with deeper and broader explanatory foundations. We therefore invite papers which explore one or more of the following themes that challenge and overcome the above-mentioned epistemological binaries:

• Theorising East Asia beyond essentialism and 'East Asian values' through cultural sociology.

• East Asian culture industries and capitalism.

• East Asian patriarchy, feminism, and masculinity.

• Hegemony of China and/or Japan across East Asia.

• Problematising East Asia as an analytical concept.