ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some major literatures centred on the tense relationship between Western and non-Western social sciences. It demonstrates how the Western dominance in sociology can be understood and interpreted differently. The chapter provides a selective overview of the rise of sociology in non-European and non-North American regions as rebels which has created strong voices that have challenged the dominant role of Western-centric or Eurocentric sociology. It discusses the project of remoulding sociology departments in higher education by Chinese sociologists after 1949. The chapter suggests that rather than accepting Western sociology blindly, Chinese sociology could make a positive response to external social change by reinterpreting and modifying Western sociology. It presents Chinese sociology in the 1950s by arguing that these self-adaptations made by native scholars constitute an alternative autonomy of sociology in China. The alternative autonomy and particularities of Chinese sociology can be highlighted by taking into account the rise of non-Western sociologies in the post-colonial context.
