State and Science & Technology in Reform-Era China: Focusing on the Issues of Ideological and Political Work in the 1980s and 1990s

This study analyzes the ideological and political work related to science and technology during China’s reform period in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1980s focused on ‘transforming perceptions’ of science and technology and implemented the following ideological and political work.: First, breaking down ‘past notions’ about science and technology, establishing new perceptions of science and technology as one of the ‘Four Modernizations’ and an important methodology, and emphasizing ‘ideological and political education for scientists.’ Second, highlighting the importance of ‘science and technology progress education.’ Third, conducting ideological and political work targeting ‘scientific and technological communities.’ The 1990s was a period when major institutions aimed at transforming the science and technology system were concentrated, based on the transformed perceptions. The core content of ideological and political work during this period was as follows.: First, emphasizing the importance of science and technology in ‘building a socialist market economy.’ Second, during the state-owned enterprise reform process that intensified in the 1990s, the meaning of science and technology expanded beyond just science and technology that could be converted into productive forces to include ‘rationality and advancement’ in production and management, such as restructuring. Third, conducting ideological and political work on scientific communities in terms of requirements for the ‘formation of institutions’ for the transition to a science and technology system led by private enterprises and private research institutes rather than state and state-owned enterprises. In subsequent research, the author intends to analyze the ideological and political work in the 2000s and 2010s, when science and technology was elevated to a core area of ‘national security’ at the ‘national strategy’ level for ‘self-reliance and self-strengthening,’ unlike in the 1980s and 1990s.