Fei Xiaotong's view on sociological research is that he never says "what should you do". He believes that scholars should tell people what they don't understand, which makes his views easily accepted by the grassroots.
In addition, there are two research methods of sociology: one is to analyze with data, the other is to conduct field investigation, and Fei Xiaotong chose the latter. Fei Xiaotong believes that the goal of this life is to understand China's society and conduct scientific research by relying on the most reliable data he has observed, so as to treat diseases from society.
Fei Xiaotong put forward the theories of "small town construction", "township enterprises", "Sunan model" and "Wenzhou model" through investigation and research.
1, the development of agricultural enterprises, agriculture and industry complement each other. From 65438 to 0938, Fei Xiaotong completed his doctoral thesis "jiang village economy" at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the English name was "The Life of Farmers in China". In his view, the basic problem in rural areas of China is that farmers' income has fallen to a level that is insufficient to maintain the minimum living standard, while "the real problem in rural areas of China is human hunger". He believes that to solve the rural and land problems in China, rural enterprises (sideline businesses) in China should be restored to increase farmers' income, which is summarized as "there are more people and less land, and agriculture and industry complement each other". Professor Marin Noszky commented in the preface: I dare to predict that Dr Fei Xiaotong's book will be a milestone in anthropological field investigation and theoretical development. What attracts our attention is not a trivial small tribe, but one of the greatest countries in the world. Jiang village economy soon became a must-read reference book for European anthropology students. Fei Xiaotong stepped into the ranks of world-famous anthropologists in 198 1 and won the Huxley Prize, the highest prize in anthropology awarded by the Royal Anthropological Society.
2. Promote rural industrialization and urban-rural integration. He has been doing rural surveys. He returned to 1936 to investigate the villages of sericulture cooperatives and silk factories, observed and recorded the historical changes there again and again, and wrote articles to reveal the great significance of restoring family sideline business and setting up collective small factories in rural areas. In his view, under the national conditions of China, various industries should not be concentrated in a few cities, but should be dispersed in the vast rural areas as far as possible. In this way, when the proportion of industry is increased in the national economic structure, the population will not be excessively concentrated, and rural industrialization and urban-rural integration will be realized on the basis of mutual complementarity and common prosperity of industry and agriculture. This is an affirmation of Fei Xiaotong's views expressed in Rural Construction in the 1940s, which provides timely theoretical support for the vigorous development of township enterprises.
3. Propose the development of small towns. With the development of township enterprises, gratifying changes have taken place in rural areas of China. Fei Xiaotong also keenly put forward the topic of studying small towns and personally led a team to conduct special research. On the basis of a large number of in-depth investigations, he wrote a series of articles such as "Small Towns, Big Problems", which were widely concerned by rural grassroots cadres, academics and high-level decision makers. 10 years later, the construction of small towns in China reached a climax.
4. Strengthen regional development. Since the late 1980s, Fei Xiaotong's fieldwork has expanded from rural areas and small towns to regional development. 1987 Elected Chairman of China Democratic League. On 1988, he was elected as the vice chairman of NPC Standing Committee. In the following ten years, he well combined the work of alliance affairs, state affairs, educational administration and academic research, and went deep into the northwest, southwest, Yellow River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Bohai Rim region, Central Plains Economic Cooperation Zone, Huaihai Economic Cooperation Zone, Northeast China and Beijing-Kowloon Railway, and made on-the-spot investigations, and put forward important development ideas to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council that are both in line with local reality and have overall significance.