Review: Lucian Pye,The Spirit of Chinese Politics

Abstract

The most appropriate review of Professor Pye's “psychocultural” study of Chinese politics would be an analysis of his personal motives for writing it. This might be approached via his childhood experiences as a missionary's son in China, or, alternatively, through his connections with the CIA in adult life. However, since this review argues that such an analysis (i.e., the method of his book) is unfair and irrelevant because it is an attempt to discredit ideas without examining the truth they may contain, I will try to set an example by confronting instead the ideas he presents and the assumptions which underlie them.