Course Information
Course title
 Contemporary Taiwanese Society 
Semester
 112-2 
Designated for
 COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES  DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY  
Instructor
 HO, MING-SHO 
Curriculum Number
 Soc5023 
Curriculum Identity Number
 325EU3000 
Class
  
Credits
 3.0 
Full/Half
Yr.
 Half 
Required/
Elective
 Elective 
Time
 Wednesday 7,8,9(14:20~17:20) 
Remarks
 Restriction: sophomores and beyond
The upper limit of the number of students: 25. 
  
Course introduction video
 
Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning
 Association has not been established
Course Syllabus
Please respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not copy any of the course information without permission
Course Description

As a democratized, globalized and multi-ethnic society, contemporary Taiwan is rich in cultural diversity. Not only is Taiwan often influenced by international trends, but her domestic environment provides a fertile ground for social innovations; as a result, Taiwan’s social fabric and cultural landscapes are undergoing a process of permanent revolution.

This course is intended to introduce economic, political, cultural, religious, gender, and other dynamics of Taiwan’s society. The primary goal is to bring about an in-depth understanding of the contending forces that are constantly remaking Taiwan. While the focus is on the present, some historical topics are included for a grip on the preceding transformations in the postwar era. A survey on contemporary Taiwan’s society necessarily sensitizes us to the complicated nature of social groupings. Differences in ethnicity, class, gender, region, age, sexual orientation, religious belief, and lifestyle give rise to highly diversified cultural expressions, among which contention and cooperation co-exist.
 

Course Objective
 Enriching the understanding of Taiwan’s social dynamics is the primary course goal. For this aim, I select published academic works on Taiwan written in English as the required readings for the class. Not all these works are written by sociologists; some are written by anthropologists, political scientists and historians. Interdisciplinary dialogues are encouraged here. To facilitate classroom discussion, I avoid using the texts that are either theoretically sophisticated or technically challenging. Topics are selected because of the availability of published works, the significance of the issues, and finally the contemporary relevance.

More explicitly there are two goals for this course. First, for Taiwan-based students, it is designed to be an opportunity to improve English fluency in academic discussion and writings. In addition, even though the required readings deal with familiar phenomena that can be found in the daily life, learning how to view them in a different perspective helps to sharpen one’s “sociological imagination.” As Zygmunt Bauman puts it, one of the essential sociological trainings consists in “exoticizing the familiar”, thereby bringing out the hidden and neglected meanings of our daily practices. Secondly, for the international students, this course provides an advanced cultural orientation to Taiwanese society. Cross-cultural comparisons, especially with home countries, are encouraged. Hopefully, this introductory course is helpful for the later choice of research topic.
 
Course Requirement
 This course has three 50-minute sections, and the whole 150 minutes are structured in two parts. The first 90 minutes are devoted to lecture given by the instructor on various topics. During the lecture, questions and discussion from the students are encouraged. Multimedia materials will be used to facilitate student understanding. Usually the instructors’ weekly presentation files will be uploaded to the online repository prior to the class. Then we will have a 20-minute break.

The last part is international comparison, which requires more active participation from students. Each weak, three Taiwan-based topics and their online sources will be prepared in advance. They are usually events, incidents, persons, or trends in Taiwan. Students take turns to (1) summarize the Taiwanese topics, (2) to find a related or comparable case abroad or from her/his country, and (3) to analyze the similarities and differences. Each student needs to finish the international comparison within 15 minutes, leaving 5 minutes for discussion. The use of presentation file is encouraged, but not compulsory.

There are 30 Taiwan-related topics in this course. If enrolled students are more than this number, students can team up for one topic.

Weekly classroom attendance is required. If there is a need to take a leave, students need to use the formal online procedure for prior application (https://advisory.ntu.edu.tw/CMS/Page/44).

In addition, participant students need to write two review essays on the selected monographs of Taiwan studies. Please see the suggested reading list below (except for the titles under the category “handbooks, anthologies, and general references”). All these suggested readings will be placed in a special section in NTU College of Social Sciences, and only within-library reading is allowed.

Each piece should be around 1,500 words in length and is due in the seventh (April 6) and the fourteenth week (May 18). Files should be uploaded to NTUCOOL on time. An ideal review should comprise of (1) a concise summary of main arguments and findings of the book, (2) a critical evaluation of its contribution to the existing literature, and (3) criticisms in the light of future research or suggestions for improvement and so on. Plagiarism in any form is not tolerated.

All the designated readings will be posted on NTUCOOL. No need for the paper printout.

Classroom rules: eating and drinking is permitted, as long as it does not create a nuisance for other people. Use of notebooks is fine, but that of mobile phones and iPads is frowned upon.
 
Student Workload (Expected weekly study hours before and/or after class)
  
Office Hours
 Tue. 12:00~14:00 Note: By appointment 
Designated reading
 Handbooks, anthologies, and general references:
Bush, Richard C. (2021) Difficult Choices: Taiwan’s Quest for Security and the Good Life. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Hsiao, Michael Hsin-huang et al. (eds.) (2023) Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Press.
Murray, A. Rubinstein (ed.) (2007) Taiwan: A New History. New York: M. E. Sharpe.
Rigger, Shelley (2011) Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Schubert, Gunter (ed.) (2016) Routeldge Handbook of Contemporary Taiwan. London: Routeldge. [A revised version is coming soon.]

The Legacy of Wars
Clough, Ralph N. (1978) Island China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lai, Tse-Han, Ramon H. Myers, and Wei Wou (1991) A Tragic Beginning: The Taiwan Uprising of February 28, 1947. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Rowen, Ian (eds.) (2021) Transitions in Taiwan: Stories of the White Terror. New York: Cambria Press.
Szonyi, Michael (2008) Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lin, Hsiao-Ting (2016) Accidental State: Chiang Kai-shek, the United States, and the Making of Taiwan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Economic Transformations
Gold, Thomas B. (1986) State and Society in the Taiwan Miracle. New York: M .E. Sharpe.
Greene, Megan (2008) The Origins of the Developmental State in Taiwan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lee, Yoonkyung (2011) Militants or Partisans: Labor Unions and Democratic Politics in Korea and Taiwan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Lin, Syaru Shirley (2016) Taiwan’s China Dilemma: Contested Identities and Multiple Interests in Taiwan’s Cross-Strait Economic Policy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,
Wade, Robert (1990) Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Winckler, Edwin A. and Susan Greenhalgh (eds.) (1988) Contending Approaches to the Political Economy of Taiwan. London: Routeldge.
Wong, Joseph (2011) Betting on Biotech: Innovation and the Limits of Asia’s Development States. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Democratization
Fan, Yun (2018) Social Movements in Taiwan’s Democratic Transition: Linking Activists to the Changing Political Environment. New York: Routledge.
Fell, Dafydd (2012) Government and Politics in Taiwan. London. New York: Routledge.
Jacobs, J. Bruce (2008) Local Politics in Rural Taiwan under Dictatorship and Democracy. Norwalk, CT: EastBridge.
Rigger, Shelley (1999). Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy. London: Routledge.
Slater, Dan and Joseph Wong (2022) From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Religions in the Public Sphere
Chen, Carolyn (2014) Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Huang, C. Julia (2009) Charisma and Compassion: Cheng-Yen and the Buddhist Tzu-Chi Movement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rubinstein, Murray A. (1991) The Protestant Community on Modern Taiwan: Mission, Seminary, and Church. New York: M.E. Sharpe.

Environmentalism
Chang, Chia-ju and Scott Slovic (eds.) (2016) Ecocriticism in Taiwan: Identity, Environment, and the Arts. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Fell, Dafydd (2021) Taiwan's Green Parties: Alternative Politics in Taiwan. London: Routledge.
Grano, Simona Alba (2015) Environmental Governance in Taiwan: A New Generation of Activists and Stakeholders. London: Routledge.
Ho, Wan‑Li (2016) Ecofamilism: Women, Religion, and Environmental Protection in Taiwan. Honolulu, HI: Three Pines Press.
Liu, Hwa-Jen (2015) Leverage of the Weak: Labor and Environmental Movements in Taiwan and South Korea. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Reardon-Anderson, James (1992) Pollution, Politics and Foreign Investment in Taiwan: The Lukang Rebellion. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Weller, Robert P. (1999) Alternative Civilities: Democracy and Culture in China and Taiwan. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Gender Politics and Culture
Lan, Pei-Chia (2006) Global Cinderellas: Migrant Domestics and Newly Rich Employers in Taiwan. Duke, NC: Duke University Press.
Lan, Pei-Chia (2018) Raising Global Families: Parenting, Immigration, and Class in Taiwan and the US. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Lee, Anru (2004) In the Name of Harmony and Prosperity: Labor and Gender Politics in Taiwan’s Economic Restructuring. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Moskowitz, Marc L. (eds.) (2011) Popular Culture in Taiwan: Charismatic Modernity. London: Routledge.

Youth Politics
Fell, Dafydd (ed.) (2017) Taiwan’s Social Movements under Ma Ying-jeou. London: Routledge.
Gold, Thomas and Sebastian Veg (eds.) (2020) Sunflowers and Umbrellas Social Movements, Expressive Practices, and Political Culture in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Berkeley, CA: University of California Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies.
Wright, Teresa (2001) The Perils of Protest: State Repression and Student Activism in China and Taiwan. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press. 
References
  
Grading
  
No.
Item
%
Explanations for the conditions
1. 
 Classroom participation 
20% 
  
2. 
 International comparison presentation  
30% 
  
3. 
 Book review essays 1 
25% 
  
4. 
 Book review essays 2 
25% 
  
 
Progress
Week
Date
Topic
Week 1
 2/21  Course Introduction 
Week 2
 2/28  National Peace Holiday (no class) 
Week 3
 3/6  Postwar Migration 
Week 4
 3/13  Political Repression 
Week 5
 3/20  The Cold War Experiences 
Week 6
 3/27  Economic Transformations (I) 
Week 7
 4/3  Economic Transformations (II) 
Week 8
 4/10  Democratization 
Week 9
 4/17  Religions in the Public Sphere 
Week 10
 4/24  Environmentalism 
Week 11
 5/1  Urban Poverty 
Week 12
 5/8  Tranistion Justice 
Week 13
 5/15  Gender Politics and Culture (I) 
Week 14
 5/22  Gender Politics and Culture (II) 
Week 15
 5/29  Youth Politics 
Week 16
 6/4  Cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China [Guest lecture by Dr. Ting-jieh Wang]