Useful Work: State Demands and Craftsmen's Social Mobility in Fifteenth-Century China

Area of Science:

• History
• Sociology
• Political Science

Background:

• Fifteenth-century Chinese society grappled with the integration of practical expertise and political power.
• Recent scholarship on Useful and Reliable Knowledge (URK) highlights elite concern with crafts and technology's utility for the imperial state.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the complex relationship between practical expertise, political power, and social mobility in fifteenth-century China.
• To analyze how the rhetoric of "useful work" influenced the status of practitioners in state politics and historical records.

Main Methods:

• Historical analysis of fifteenth-century Chinese texts and political discourse.
• Examination of the evolution of concepts surrounding "useful work" and its impact on practitioners.
• Analysis of social mobility patterns and political participation of individuals with practical expertise.

Main Results:

• A rhetoric emphasizing "useful work" emerged, prioritizing state-centric applications of crafts and technology.
• This rhetoric contributed to the decline of practitioners' direct involvement in state politics.
• Practitioners became increasingly invisible in historical records by the mid-Ming period.

Conclusions:

• The emphasis on "useful work" reconfigured the relationship between practical expertise and political power.
• This shift led to reduced social mobility opportunities for practitioners and their marginalization in historical narratives.
• Understanding this historical dynamic offers insights into the societal valuation of technical skills and knowledge.