Hickey博士从法国社会学家爱米尔•涂尔干（Émile Durkheim）在《社会分工论》中提出的机械团结与有机团结（mechanical and organic solidarity）理论切入，以同社会不同阶层人士的接触和三聚氰胺事件、佛山小悦悦事件为例，结合法国历史上从农业社会向工业社会转型、迈向现代性过程中曾经经历过的现代化、城市化、工业化、世俗化、集中化、结构分化过程中所经历过的问题，剖析了中国向现代性迈进过程中食品安全、药品安全领域内所面临的问题。Hickey博士从社会学与历史学视角深入浅出地探讨了社会转型时期所出现的食品、药品安全问题和解决之道。Hickey博士特别回顾了进步时代（Progressive Era）的代表人物之一的西奥多•罗斯福总统对美国社会的深刻变革所带做出的贡献。在西奥多•罗斯福总统执政期间，通过《1906年纯净食品、药品法案》，根据这一法案创建了FDA。Hickey博士阐述了依法治国对于美国开创全球领先的食品和药品行业、使得人民从工业化中受益及“将20世纪变为美国的世纪”的意义。借用西奥多•罗斯福总统的话，“力量总是意味着责任和风险（Power invariably means both responsibility and danger）”，Hickey博士认为中国当前的食品和药品安全问题由于中国在全球化贸易中的独特地位而更加具有挑战性，也更受到全球的关注；考虑法国和美国的社会和历史发展，对于“将21世纪变为中国的世纪”可能会有所帮助。
Lecture by Dr. Chris Hickey: Food and Drug Safety: Sociological and Historical Perspective
On April 2nd, 2015, Dr. Christopher Hickey, the country director of FDA China Office, gave a lecture titled Food and Drug Safety: Sociological and Historical Perspective to the faculty and students to the IPEM students at Peking University.
Starting from the mechanical and oragnic solidarity developed by Émile Durkheim in his work the Division of Labour in Society (in French: De la division du travail social), taking the examples of contact with the local people in various strata, the Melamine Incident and the Toddler Yueyue Accident in Foshan, Dr. Hickey retrospectively reviewed the issues in France and USA in the process to the integrity and coherence in modernity through modernization, urbanization, industrialization, secularization, concentration and institutional differentiation in the transformation from the agrarian society to the industrial society. Dr. Hickey analyzed the issues in food and drug safety in China that is evolving to the modernity, and with what he has learned and saw in China, he explored the food and drug safety issues and the solution in the time of social transformation from the sociological and historical perspective. In particularly, Dr. Hickey reviewed Theodore Roosevelt, one of the late presidents in the Progressive Era and the leader in the Progressive Movement, who led series of reforms in the society, brought profound changes to the American society, and made good contributions to the so-called American century. It was during the second presidency of Theodore Roosevelt when FDA's modern regulatory functions began with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. Dr. Hickey expounded the importance of rule of law in the start of the leading food and drug industries of the USA in the world, bringing people benefits from the industrialization. With the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "Power invariably means both responsibility and danger." Dr. Hickey thinks that the food and drug safety issues are more challenging thanks to the unique position of China in the trade globalization and get more attention globally. The lessons in the evolution in food and drug safety in France and USA from the sociological and historical prespective, may be a mirror to shed light on the coming Chinese century.
Dr. Hickey has been the country director of FDA China Office that was founded in 2008, and Dr. Hickey and his colleagues have been supporting the PKU's IPEM program.
