Housing Consumption and Identity Construction of the Middle Class in Contemporary China

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
Abigail Qian Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Housing Consumption ◽  
Contemporary China

scholarly journals Performing Gender

Ethnologies ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Huang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
Gender Scripts ◽  
Cultural Negotiations

By examining gender scripts and performances in Chinese nostalgic studio wedding photography, this article explores the historical and cultural resources available for a particular gender project in contemporary China. It suggests a resonance between the post-Mao gender project and China’s modernity project and Chinese cultural identity construction, and argues that the post-Mao gender project is carried out under the haunting shadow of the Maoist gender ideology, and through cross-cultural negotiations with the Western gaze.

“We Were Not at School Today”: First-Person Pronouns and Discursive Construction of Identities by Emerging Middle-Class Chinese Parents

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-306
Author(s):  
Yanmei Han ◽  
Jianping Chen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
First Person ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Chinese Parents ◽  
Young Parent ◽  
Involved Parents

Abstract In the process of China’s dynamic social changes over the past decades, the young-parent identity construction of an emerging middle class and the resulting changes of social-cultural values in this context have attracted the attention of academic research in recent years. With the focus on the discursive construction of parent identity, this study examines the utilization of first-person pronouns in three different interactional contexts, namely, parent-teacher interaction, parent-parent interaction, and parent-child interaction. The study further explores the patterns of alignment between the parents and their children, parents and teachers of their children, and peer parents during the process of identity construction, followed by a discussion of the implication that young, emerging middle-class Chinese parents fundamentally shape themselves as “concerned” and “involved” parents and the change of values between collectivity and agency. The study not only demonstrates the dynamic and pluralistic nature of parent identity but also deepens our understanding of the indexical roles of first-person pronouns in the discursive construction of emerging middle-class Chinese parent identity and its relationship with the recent social-cultural changes in the Chinese context.

Individuality, subjectivation, and their civic significance in contemporary China: The cultivation of an ethical self in a cultural community

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-349
Author(s):  
Lin Yi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
Cultural Community ◽  
Cultural Activities ◽  
Coastal City ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
The Way

Drawing upon ethnographic data collected from fieldwork among a reading-based community in a coastal city over 10 years, and Michel Foucault’s notion of the cultivation of an ethical self, the primary aim of this study is to examine three issues: (1) how do middle-class citizens articulate and practise the cultural activities that they advocate?; (2) are their practices simultaneously individualized and totalized in the way that Foucault demonstrates?; and (3) do these internally oriented practices have civic significance?

Becoming a Good Citizen for a Better Life: Why Does the Middle Class Prefer Negotiation over Rightful Resistance in Shanghai?

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
YIHAN XIONG
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Political Risk ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
Political Performance ◽  
Social Protests

Abstract‘Rightful resistance’ has become a mainstream theoretical framework for understanding social protests in contemporary China. However, the middle class in Shanghai is more inclined to protect its rights through ‘loyal appealing’ than rightful resistance. The middle class has had to express its loyalty and its ‘voice’ at the same time to minimize its political risk. Rightful resistance and ‘loyal appealing’ differ in several respects. First, rightful resistance professes loyalty only to the central government, whereas loyal appealing professes loyalty to the local government. Second, rightful resistance considers the local government an object to confront, whereas loyal appealing considers it a potential ally. Finally, activists who engage in rightful resistance use central government policies as their weapon, whereas activists who engage in loyal appealing use the local government's political performance as a bargaining chip. However, the middle class has not completely relinquished its right to rightful resistance; instead, rightful resistance is a backup to ensure the effectiveness of loyal appealing.

“Guess who I am”

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-122
Author(s):  
Xiyun Zhong ◽  
Yantao Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
The Common

Pragmaticists have investigated identity construction in various social practices. Yet, seldom have they paid attention to false identities assumed in interactions like fraudulence. This study, by resorting to Chen’s (2018) theory on pragmatic identity, investigates 72 real fraud cases in contemporary China, trying to uncover the discursive practices for their fabricated identities and the underlying motivations for these identities. It is found that (i) fabricated identities like the victim identity, the friend/kin identity, the clerk identity, the official identity, and the identity of resourcefulness are often deployed as resources for fraudulent purposes; (ii) speech acts, person-referencing, discourse contents, codes, and sounds of speech are the common discursive practices con artists resort to in fabricating their identities; and (iii) the construction of the fabricated identities results from the con artists’ adaptation to the physical, social, and mental world of their targets. The study broadens the scope of identity construction by focusing on that of fabricated identity.

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