ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the political and organizational issues that play a major influence in the research process. Starting in the early 1990s, several journals were inaugurated to publish criminological research, and numerous degree programs were initiated at Chinese universities. Understanding the socio-historic context is always an important variable in the social analysis of crime, but, for foreign researchers in China, it is even more significant and failure to appreciate the past often leads to false or inaccurate conclusions. The potential value of social science research has been questioned by the government of the People’s Republic of China from its inception and was initially viewed as incompatible with the socialist agenda. Social sciences were often viewed as “oppositional sciences” by those in power probably because they were considered a potential source of criticism and a possible platform for social reform. The opening of China to the West in the late 1970s brought significant changes and a reintroduction of socio-legal studies.
