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39June 2020CHINA’S Role in a Shared Human Future, jointly published by the

Beijing-based New World Press and London-based Global China

Press, is written by Martin Albrow, a renowned sociologist and pioneer

of the theory of globalization. Currently a fellow at the Academy of

Social Sciences in the U.K., Albrow was president of the British Socio-

logical Association, editor of its journal Sociology, and founding editor

of International Sociology, the journal of the International Sociological

Association. Internationally renowned for his pioneering work on the

topic of globalization, Albrow’s fields of expertise include social theory,

organization theory, and Max Weber thought.

As early as 1996, in his work The Global Age (1996), Albrow launched

the term “globalization” which was quite new at the time, but subse-

quently has become perhaps the most significant driving force of our

times. In its most fundamental meaning, “globalization” refers to the

intensifying interdependence of individuals, institutions, and states

across the globe. This time, Albrow explores China’s role as a leading

power in the global community, based on comparative research on both

the Chinese and Western world’s classical sociological theories and cur-

rent practice.

The book contains 14 chapters in three parts. The first part “China’s

Role in the Globalizing World” includes The Architectonic of Ideas –

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Philosophical Social Science as a

Bridge from “Belt and Road” to Global Governance, The Challenge for

Belt and Road, China’s Role in a Fragmenting World, and Leadership for

a People’s Democracy. The second part explores “The Theory of Global

Social Order,” including Chinese Social Theory in Global Social Science,

The Challenge of Transculturality for the U.S.A. and China, Pragmatic

Universalism and the Quest for Global Governance, Can There Be a

Public Philosophy for Global Governance, How Do We Discover Com-

mon Values, and The “Community of Shared Destiny” under Conditions

of Imperfect Understanding. Finally, the last part of the book under the

title “From Max Weber to Global Society” effectively links the theories of

Max Weber with the proposals made by President Xi concerning today’s

global transformation. In this section, the author discusses topics of

China and the World: in Search of Transcultural Communication, the

Case of Confucian Ethics, and China and The Future of Global Society.

“The main purpose of the book is to show the rest of the world that

China has a very sophisticated way of thinking about globalization,

about leadership, and what China can achieve in the future. It is about

how China has been very well prepared to contribute positively to the

world,” said Albrow at the launching ceremony of his new book at the

2018 London Book Fair.

Albrow stated that the Belt and Road Initiative demonstrates how

China as a new player in the world can help heal global divisions, and

how it will serve as a means to promote global peace and cooperation

rather than intensify rivalries. He also recalled the fact that when a Chi-

nese leader speaks to his people, he often speaks about the traditions

and cultural heritages of China, which had given him the inspiration to Innovative Cooperation under the Challenge of Globalization

China’s Role in a Shared Human Future

– Towards Theory for Global Leadership

Author: Martin Albrow

Price: GBP 50.99

Hardcover, 218 pages

Published by New World Press & Global China Press

By staff reporter ZHOU LIN

write this book. Moreover, Albrow tried to impress on his readers the

idea that finding shared goals is crucial to fostering mutual under-

standing. “In rediscovering the deep roots of shared cultural values,

we can shape a code of global ethics that can be the foundation of a

resurgence of global cooperation,” he added.

Many voices in current times speak of globalization going into

reverse. The reverberations of the global economic crisis are still being

felt, especially in Western countries. The most significant consequence

in global terms is the ascent of Donald Trump to power in the United

States, a leader who wants to reverse what he sees as America’s declin-

ing power and who blames globalization for the U.S.’s problems rather

than seeing it as the source of its relative prosperity. However, despite

those reflections, globalization has not gone into reverse or decline.

Whatever its stresses and strains are at this moment, the world is

more and more interdependent. One of the prime reasons is the rise

of the digital revolution, which has taken globalization, or the interde-

pendence among humans to a wholly different level.

The celebrated Canadian thinker Marshall McLuhan, writing many

years ago at the outset of the digital revolution, coined the term “global

village” to describe the trajectory of world society. Imagine for a mo-

ment, someone takes a plane from their home country to London. The

trip takes only 10 hours or so, an everyday miracle which all depends

upon global satellite systems circling high above the earth. Upon ar-

rival, he calls his parents on the smartphone and they can talk almost

as if they were in the same room.

We are living at a level that human beings have not experienced

before, as witnessed in myriad scientific and technological advances,

moving faster than ever before precisely because of globalization.

Yet the risks presented today are also without precedent in previous

history, for example, the combined threats of climate change, the

proliferation of nuclear weapons, mass migration, and the potential

for global pandemics – all need innovative collaboration in the era of

globalization.

Sociologist Professor Anthony Giddens, former director of the

London School of Economics, wrote the preface for the book in

which he comments that Albrow does a remarkable job in his book

of shedding light on the extraordinary changes happening today and

on the pivotal role that China is likely to play in shaping their further

evolution. Giddens noted that as the United States pulls back from its

global responsibilities, China not only can, but must, assume a pivotal

position in shaping global society for the better.

Xiang Xiaowei, minister counselor for culture at the Chinese

Embassy in London, said that the book is a ground-breaking theoreti-

cal contribution with major academic and social significance, adding

that as a component of Sino-British cultural exchange, cooperation in

the field of ideological dialogue and the publishing industry is particu-

larly important. “The book offers a new perspective for observing the

impact China’s development is having on the world,” he said. C BOOK REpORt

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