By putting to work Pierre Bourdieu's approach to the 'field of cultural production', I analyze interactions of politics and economy as they play out in what I call the 'contemporary Chinese cinematic field'. How has the Chinese field of film production emerged, stabilized and changed in the era of Reform and Opening? Through archival data and in-depth interviews, I answer the question by discussing four sub-fields of film production, namely political 'main melody film', commercial film, 'international Chinese film' and independent film. How has globalization affected the transformation of the cinematic field? Contra Bourdieu's emphasis on the weakening autonomy of various national social fields under globalization, I highlight the processes through which globalization is appropriated by social actors in the cinematic field to alter domestic power relations. This article moves towards a better understanding of the field of cultural production amidst global linkages and national refractions.

In the wake of the Second World War, Japanese society developed a favorable attitude toward the United States as well as the camp of the "Free World". This paper attempts to investigate the origins of the mass public's relevant attitudes on the basis of survey data collected in Japan around 1960. Those with higher class positions and government workers tended to accept the US more than did labor. It is argued that for the mainstream middle class, capitalism became a viable option shortly after the war. In addition to the examination of class interest, we test three models: A political model, by which we stress that attitudes are influenced by the value positions of the political parties and organizations they affiliate with; a Cold War mentality model, which argues that a stronger perception of continuous confrontation between capitalism and the Soviet Bloc likely leads to preferring closer association with the US, capitalism, and the Free World; and an emperor effect model, which measures correlations between support for the emperor and pro-American attitudes. The three models and hypotheses derived from them are generally supported through careful analyses of the survey results. This study offers a unique contribution to recapture the origins of a pro-American attitude of the Japanese public during the peak of the Cold War.

Drawing upon rich detailed data collected through ethnography in the capital city of Beijing, China, this article examines the social locations and media used for watching Chinese independent films. Three key research questions frame the article. (1) Who are the audiences of Chinese independent films? (2) Under what circumstances do they watch the films? (3) What are the broader social consequences of watching independent films in China? Empirically, I focus on two particular locations of consumption - film clubs and independently organized film festivals, and two media of viewing - DVDs and the Internet. Analytically, I argue that consumption enables the production of Chinese independent films in two ways. First, literally, by providing knowledge, resources and personal networks for independent film production. Second, metaphorically, by making Chinese independent films become social reality by providing opportunities for circulation and exhibition of the officially illegal cultural product. I conclude the article by reflecting upon the utility of the emerging concept of prosumption for analysing film consumption in China.

Extending recent seminal studies that focus on networks of multiple actors in Chinese civil society instead of state-society dichotomy, this article explores independent film consumption in contemporary urban China. It shows how a collectiveentity composed of independent films, people, and discourses is assembled to become civil society, despite the continuing existence of government restrictions on independently produced films. Relying on data collected through ethnography set in the capital city of Beijing, I use the "three moves" suggested by Bruno Latour's recent description of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to follow the actors themselves. I first "localize the global" concept of civil society and its attendant notion of state-society relations by discussing an independently organized film festival in which I participated and observed. Second, by discussing an empirical case of DVD stores, through which independent films circulate, I "redistribute the local" by detailing the processes in which particular local sites of the retail spaces of DVDs are connected to "actants" dispatched throughout the globe. Finally, I "connect sites" by putting to work the conceptual tools provided by Latour including "connectors," "mediators," and "plasma." I conclude by arguing that ANT contributes to a seemingly modest, but essential political task of preventing the hasty closure of what is to be included in the collective, as well as how the collective is to be composed. In the case I examine, ANT clears the path for the future reassembling of civil society in contemporary urban China.

Extending recent seminal studies on the emerging phenomenon of prosumption, this article analyzes the process of prosumption in art, which has been relatively neglected in the discussion. What was the history of prosumption in art before the rise of its awareness in the digital age? What characteristics of prosumption have emerged in the art world in the past two decades or so? What are the implications of the rise of prosumption in art for sociological studies of art? I argue that although the social constructionist view of art presented by sociologists, on the processes of both production and consumption, has significantly contributed to understanding art as a social and collective activity, contemporary art practice and theory have taken these sociological arguments into account and moved closer to the understanding of art as a social activity. Hence, reflections on possible implications of the rise of prosumption for existing sociological studies of art are needed.