How much attention should be paid to social issues? Peking University teachers respond to new students' questions: limited energy

Zhang Zhe. WeChat official account map of Department of Sociology, Peking University

In September, another group of students entered universities, ushering in a new stage of life. Even young students who enter top universities for education will have many confusions and doubts.

Regarding this, Pengpai News noticed that on September 7th, at the opening ceremony of the Department of Sociology at Peking University, Assistant Professor Zhang Zhe addressed an important question to the freshmen of the Department of Sociology at Peking University: as a college student with very limited energy, to what extent should we pay attention to social reality issues?

Zhang Zhe stated that he served as the homeroom teacher for undergraduate students in the Sociology Department of Peking University in 2023. Some classmates chatted with him and asked about topics related to graduate school guarantees, double degrees, or future employment, saying, "Everyone seems quite anxious.".

A classmate talked to Zhang Zhe about the issue of "emotional cost": she is very concerned about social issues and phenomena such as gender opposition, but feels that she cannot change anything. If she pays too much attention, there will be a significant "emotional cost". She is also worried that if she is released, she will become passive and indifferent, which goes against the original intention of choosing sociology.

"I think this question may be quite common among students in our sociology department or in the broader humanities and social sciences major. Therefore, Zhang Zhe started by focusing on the" emotional cost "of the real society and discussed to what extent social reality issues should be addressed when human energy is very limited.".

Zhang Zhe pointed out in his book "Passion, Skills, and Methods" that in recent years, social sciences, especially empirical research, have increasingly pursued "scientification", but scientification does not mean "depersonalization". The book concludes that although there is no unified template for the road to excellence, the best scholars all have three important characteristics: rich life experience, full research passion and willingness to take intellectual and professional risks.

"I understand that the relationship between these three may be advancing layer by layer, and the rich life experiences have stimulated the passion of these scholars, which in turn makes them willing to bear certain risks." Zhang Zhe said, "We should see that without these ups and downs of life experiences, without witnessing the suffering and absurdity of humanity, the political scientists in the book may not be fixated on thinking about issues such as the country, the military, war and peace, democracy and dictatorship, unable to insight into the subtleties of human nature and the complexity of systems, and unable to achieve such remarkable achievements.".

Zhang Zhe believes that "we can pay attention to social reality, go into the fields, listen, observe, empathize, and establish connections with people from the vast world."

He also pointed out that if one wants to have a deep and lasting passion for their research and theories, they should try to break the boundary between empirical research and normative theory, firmly believing that their research is not only valuable to the academic community, but also has an impact on the real world - we hope that our research can increase our understanding and cognition of the world a bit, and also make the world a better place.

Zhang Zhe said that the debate between Gu Jiegang and Fei Xiaotong on the definition of the "Chinese nation" and the question of "who we are" is not only about sociologists seeking truth and breakthroughs in existing intellectual boundaries, but also about the generation of intellectual elites dedicating their wisdom and passion to the mission of saving the nation from extinction and survival in times of national crisis.

He said, "To become an outstanding sociologist, in addition to moral considerations, we must also take a sincere attitude towards social reality and closely connect our research with it. If we only treat our research as a nine to five job, we are likely to fall into the cage of professionalism and cannot obtain this lasting passion, let alone take on any risks in our profession or intelligence."

Zhang Zhe hopes that as a student of the Department of Sociology at Peking University and a future sociologist in China, the original intention of learning knowledge and conducting research is definitely not just to stay in one's comfort zone and pursue small joys in life. "Repeating actions is not only our methodology, but also our worldview."

At the end, Zhang Zhe gave the freshmen a sentence, "May you live in interesting times" - wishing them a fun era and embracing it.