Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to provide a bird-eye's view of Vietnamese sociology since its formation in the early 1980's. This thesis traces the genesis of Vietnamese sociology by examining the transformation of the culture of learning and the intellectual class within the context of social change through various epochs of Vietnamese history. A working model of historical sociology, namely "epochal synthesis" is then used to study the relationship between historical processes and the culture of learning to identify the main traits of Vietnamese sociology at the moment of its conception. Another aspect of this thesis is to identify the changing pattern of Vietnamese sociology following the implementation of Doi Moi in the mid 1980's by examining the sociological writings of Vietnamese sociologists. Results of content and textual analyses confirm the softening though not the complete abandonment of the core values of Marxist-Leninist doctrine. This is indicative of a new direction of moving away from nomothetic and deterministic theorizing, a broadening of perspectives, and the application of multiple sociological frameworks for social research