Article**: Liu Xiaohua, Research and Writing Institute.
*The importance of topic selection is needless to say. But at the same time, the majority of authors generally believe that it is difficult to choose a topic. We often say that the selection of topics should "return to common sense". In this regard, although some authors agree, they still do not know what the topic of "return to common sense" is. Xiang Biao, a professor at the Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology in Germany, summarized the seven characteristics of "common-sense sociology anthropology" in the article "The Construction of the Meaning of Life Must Return to "Common Sense Sociology and Anthropology". Inspired by this, we have summarized the ways of "returning to common sense" around the published C issue** into five ways. Next, I will introduce them one by one.
First, return to the synthesis of common sense.
Common sense is the daily consensus that prevails between people in a particular society, and it is the cognition that people directly form based on life experience. Sometimes, common sense seems to be just a sentence or a few words, but in fact it is a high degree of condensation of knowledge and information in multiple fields. This knowledge and information are interrelated and interact with each other, and together they constitute a basic knowledge and understanding of the world. **The topic of "returning to the synthesis of common sense" is not to regard the problem itself as a linear deduction of a single category, but to see the complexity of the problem behind common sense, and to use connected, developmental, and multi-angle thinking to examine various phenomena in life, not to stop at "what", but to pay more attention to "why".
For example, "it's better to marry well than to do well" is a common saying, and it is also common sense in the eyes of many people. So, what counts as "marrying well"? Is the marriage of the right family considered "well married", or is the marriage of Gao Pan considered "well married"? "Marrying well" involves marriage patterns, and it is common sense that different marriage models will have different impacts. Is Gao Pan's marriage more satisfying? Marriage Matching Patterns and Their Long-term Impacts" (Economic Quarterly, No. 1, 2015), aiming at the common sense of "marriage patterns", ** the relationship between different matching patterns in the marriage market and people's life satisfaction and mental health. That is to say, when the author of the article selects the topic, he links the marriage matching pattern with variables such as life satisfaction and mental health, which reflects the "comprehensiveness of returning to common sense". On the one hand, the author acknowledges the common sense that "different marriage patterns will have different impacts", and on the other hand, he focuses on the multiple categories that affect the quality of marriage, as well as the changing times of marriage matching patterns (there are many kinds of matching patterns), and studies the complex relationship between the multiple categories.
2. Return to the impact of everyday phenomena on specific people.
As mentioned earlier, common sense is a perception that people form directly based on life experience. In other words, common sense is about "everyday phenomena" and "concrete people in society". *The topic of "returning to common sense" is to return to those people who are closely related to "common sense", and to return to the impact of daily phenomena on specific people, especially the impact of daily phenomena on people's cognition. If a topic only focuses on "abstract phenomena" and "does not see the person", then it is difficult for such a topic to have "value" for people. If the topic selection can resonate with individual people, it will be difficult for more individuals to resonate, and it will not be able to arouse extensive social resonance, and it will be difficult for people to produce cognitive education, and ultimately weaken the social value of the topic itself. Therefore, the topic of "return to common sense" is to return to the impact of daily phenomena on specific people.
For example, mass media such as television and the Internet have long entered domestic households, which is a life phenomenon and a common sense. On the other hand, television and the Internet disseminate a lot of information related to marriage, which is also a phenomenon of life and common sense. So, does and what impact does mass media have on marital stability? This is what was studied in the article "Research on the Influence of Mass Media on Marital Stability" (Population Research, No. 2, 2015). The idea of this paper is to focus on the life phenomena such as "mass media and its communication" and "marital stability", which are of general concern, and use quantitative methods to identify the mechanism and path of mass media affecting marital stability. Marital stability is a matter of many families, and the topic already addresses the impact of everyday phenomena on specific people. It uses provincial panel data to empirically verify the above impacts, which can arouse the collective resonance of the whole society, enrich people's understanding of marital stability, and affect people's cognition of marital common sense.
3. Return to the contradiction of common sense.
The "contradiction" here has two meanings. First, although some common sense is a reflection of real life, it is not necessarily "true" logically, and there are even distortions. **The "return to common sense" mentioned in the topic selection is certainly not a return to such common sense, but the opposite of a return to such common sense, that is, "anti-common sense". Second, the common sense of life itself often contains the expectations of ordinary people for positive changes, but in reality, these expectations of ordinary people are constantly suppressed or self-contained by the outside world, and cannot be realized. For this reason, the topic of "returning to common sense" is to return to the objective "suppression" and subjective "containment" in the above phenomena.
For an example of topic selection, you can use "Is "Always Home to See" Necessary? An Empirical Test from the Perspective of Life Satisfaction (Statistics and Information Forum, No. 4, 2015). On the one hand, it is common sense that traditional Chinese culture and contemporary domestic laws advocate "often go home to see" and "often go home to see the elderly". However, in real life, some employers are reluctant to provide convenience for employees to "go home often", and many young people are sued in court for failing to "go home often". This involves "anti-common sense", and we also have reason to ask: "Is it necessary to go home often"? On the other hand, young people do not "go home often", which involves both objective "suppression" and subjective "containment". For example, although the law advocates "going home often", it does not explicitly stipulate that employers must unconditionally facilitate employees to "go home often", which is an objective "suppression". Another example is that some young people may not be subjectively unaware of the benefits of "going home often", but the pressure of life makes them make a choice against their subjective will - not to go home first, and to earn money to support their families first. This contradiction in subjective consciousness is also a starting point for "returning to common sense" and reflecting on the basis of "often going home to see" into the law.
Fourth, return to the heuristic properties of common sense.
Returning to the heuristic attribute of common sense" means that the topic selection does not necessarily directly take "common sense" itself as the research object, but may also take it as the object of dialogue, and in the process of "dialogue" with common sense, it can be inspired by the topic selection in other aspects other than the "common sense" discussed. **The reason why the topic should "return to the heuristic attribute of common sense" is because: although not all common sense is completely correct, as an intuitive reflection of real experience, the "correctness" of common sense is guaranteed by probability. In particular, common sense may not logically fully present causal relationships between multiple variables, but at least it can reflect some correlations. This provides inspiring and valuable information for in-depth thinking about the research question when choosing a topic.
For example, we sometimes hear from the news that someone is bogus divorced in order to buy a house. For people who are restricted by regulations and cannot buy a house, "fake divorce" may be common sense in their group. The idea of the topic of the article "Why Purchase Restrictions Can't Control Housing Prices: An Explanation from the Marriage Market" (Economic Dynamics, No. 11, 2016) was inspired by it. This article does not directly study "fake divorce", but it actually studies the issue of "the impact of the purchase restriction order on urban housing", and it is obviously inspired by "fake divorce". This is because, under the influence of the "purchase restriction" policy, those families who "fake divorce" in order to buy a house, although they have money, do not meet the qualifications to buy a house, so they think of fake divorce, and some people eventually buy multiple houses in this way. In this case, we should start from the perspective of the marriage market and study the possible reasons why the purchase restriction policy is not effective. This is the inspiration for the topic of "fake divorce".
Fifth, return to the realistic scenarios required by "bringing in theory".
We have always said that the topic selection "returns to common sense", but this does not mean that in any case, we must let the topic selection cater to the "common sense", let alone deliberately dilute the theoretical nature of the topic selection in order to be in line with ordinary people. A standardized topic must have a certain degree of theory. The reasonable understanding of "returning to common sense" in the topic selection should be: even ordinary people who are not from a professional class can see "themselves" in the ** topic selection of a specific major, and can connect the theoretical knowledge in the topic with the life scene they are familiar with. This process of understanding and mastering theoretical knowledge by substituting one's own experience and real situation is the sense of substitution of theory.
For example, when it comes to "education investment incentives", many people may be confused and don't know what they are talking about. This is because the "education investment incentives" provide only an abstract picture. It is difficult for others outside the teaching management profession to accurately understand its meaning, and it is difficult for them to relate this theory to themselves, and it is difficult to find a realistic scenario corresponding to the theory. If it is changed to "The Return of Education in Marriage: "Learning Well" and "Marrying Well" (Journal of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, No. 6, 2015), many people can see "themselves" from this topic. Among them, "the return of marriage in education" reflects the theoretical nature of the topic; And "learning well" and "marrying well" provide ordinary people with realistic scenarios that are "brought in by theory". In other words, in reality, many women have achieved "marrying well" by "learning well", and their investment in education has been significantly rewarded. Not only women can see "themselves" from this topic, but men can also see the self participating in the marriage market from this topic.
6. Summary. The above are the five ways to choose the topic "return to common sense". From a utilitarian point of view, the topic selection "returns to common sense", which aims to reduce the difficulty of topic selection and planning. In the ultimate sense of the value of human existence, the topic of "returning to common sense" is also a feasible way to practice a positive life. The world is big, and humanity is small. Only by starting from the real life that they can touch and think about these questions that can be seen and touched, can everyone gain an understanding of the real world little by little. In this way, you will gradually achieve a comprehensive understanding of the common sense of life. At the same time, "common sense" is always the common sense of the majority, not the "truth" of the few. *Choosing the topic of "returning to common sense" also means that you always pay attention to the issues that most people care about, and you are always with most people. In this way, every time I think about "common sense", it will affect the cognition of most people and play a positive role in serving others and society.
Author: Liu Xiaohua (Editor, Teaching and Research Director, Research and Writing Institute).