This monograph is yet another example of an academic milestone set between covers without much consideration for what should distinguish a book from a dissertation. It retains all the conventions of a dissertation - elaborate theorizing, extended descriptions of methods, lengthy concept explications and reviews of the literature, obligatory chapter introductions and conclusions about what will be covered and what has been covered, constant reminders of central propositions, and confident assertions of research findings and significant theoretical implications. As a product of author Jianhua Yao's doctoral work in sociology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, it bears the imprimatur of an assiduous learning process. As a volume for sharing with larger scholarly communities, its achievements are more modest.
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