TOTALITARIANIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA AND THEIR IMPLICATION FOR THE NATION’S POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The argument of my paper is that higher education in China is going through a process of totalitarianization and democratization at the same time. On the one hand there are organizational controls and ideological indoctrination of students and cooptation of the faculty by the Party-state. On the other hand, there are democratic breakthroughs on the part of both students and professors. Whatever happens in the ivory tower inevitably affects what happens outside of it. Whether the Party-state is going in the direction of totalitarianism or democracy depends on the result of the tug-of-war between the forces of totalitarianization and democratization in both state and society. My analysis is based on an examination of the available data in research from a perspective of the sociology of higher education. I hope that a better understanding of what happens at the university and the role of higher education in China’s development will help all the stakeholders of higher education in making wiser policies and practical decisions.