91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳

Research Overview

Professor Osburg’s research is broadly concerned with the relationship between market economies, cultural values, and morality. From 2003 to 2006, he conducted ethnographic fieldwork with a group of wealthy entrepreneurs in southwest China, examining practices of network building and deal making between businesspeople and government officials. His book, , examines the rise of elite networks in China and documents the changing values, lifestyles, and consumption habits of China’s new rich and new middle classes. Anxious Wealth also examines changing gender relations in Post-Mao China and the ways in which money and material wealth intersect with ideologies of love and feelings in people’s social, marital, and romantic relationships. In addition to his book, Prof. Osburg has published articles on masculinity, consumer culture, political corruption, state capitalism, and organized crime in contemporary China.

In 2018, Osburg was awarded a two-year Andrew Carnegie Fellowship which supported a project titled, “Spiritual Crisis and Moral Transformation in Post-Mao China.” This research examines the emergence of new forms of spirituality and religiosity in urban China, with a particular focus on the growing numbers of Han Chinese practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. The project considers the ways in which these new forms of religious belief engender broader transformations in Chinese society: How will this spiritual turn among affluent Chinese, which has emerged right as China is poised to become an economic and political superpower, affect their political attitudes, philanthropic practices, environmental consciousness, and social activism, and how will this transformation impact the world beyond China?

Prof. Osburg’s research has been supported by the ACLS, The Henry Luce Foundation, the Chiang-Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Social Science Research Council, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Prior to coming to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳, Professor Osburg was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chinese Studies at Stanford University. While conducting his field research in China, he endured a brief stint as the co-host of a variety show on a provincial television station. In addition to his research and teaching, from 2016-2018 he was a Fellow of the Public Intellectuals Program at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Research Interests

• China
• Capitalism
• Postsocialism
• Gender
• Political corruption and organized crime
• Buddhist revival in China