3在美国的中国研究学界,将市民社会与公共领域理论用来分析清明以来中国社会,比较著名的有Robert K.Schoppa、William Rowe、Mary Rankin和David Strand等,而对此持批评看法的,有Frederic Wakeman、Philip Huang和Philip Kuh等.有关这场争论,参见William T.Rowe,The Problem of "Civil Society"in Late Imperial China ;Frederic Wakeman, Jr. , The Civil Society and Public Sphere Debate: Western Reflection on Chinese Political Culture Philip C.C.Huang,'Public Sphere'/'Civil Society'in China?,以上三文均见Modern China, vol. 19 no 2 (April 1993).
