The culture of democracy: a sociological approach to civil society
In: Cultural sociology series
133 Ergebnisse
Sortierung:
In: Cultural sociology series
World Affairs Online
"In the 1960s and 1970s, around 17 million Chinese youths were mobilized or forced by the state to migrate to rural villages and China's frontiers. Bin Xu tells the story of how this "sent-down" generation have come to terms with their difficult past. Exploring representations of memory including personal life stories, literature, museum exhibits, and acts of commemoration, he argues that these representations are defined by a struggle to reconcile worthiness with the political upheavals of the Mao years. These memories, however, are used by the state to construct an official narrative that weaves this generation's experiences into an upbeat story of the "China dream." This marginalizes those still suffering and obscures voices of self-reflection on their moral-political responsibility for their actions. Xu provides careful analysis of this generation of "Chairman Mao's children," caught between the political and the personal, past and present, nostalgia and regret, and pride and trauma"--
World Affairs Online
Consensus crisis -- Mourning for the ordinary -- Civic engagement in the recovery period -- Forgetting, remembering, and activism
World Affairs Online
In: The developing economies: the journal of the Institute of Developing Economies, Tokyo, Japan, Band 62, Heft 1, S. 107-108
ISSN: 1746-1049
In: Journal of Chinese political science, Band 28, Heft 1, S. 169-171
ISSN: 1874-6357
In: Human services organizations management, leadership & governance, Band 45, Heft 1, S. 9-12
ISSN: 2330-314X
In: The American journal of sociology, Band 124, Heft 5, S. 1551-1553
ISSN: 1537-5390
In: The China quarterly, Band 226, S. 407-430
ISSN: 1468-2648
AbstractThis article examines the Chinese state's moral performance during several major disasters, including the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the 1998 Yangtze River floods, and the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. Drawing on the theatrical theory of symbolic politics, I argue that the Sichuan earthquake marked a turn in the state's moral performance. While the Chinese state continued to project an image of a secure, heroic state, it endeavoured to construct a sympathetic image through leaders' displays of compassion and sorrow, a mourning ritual for ordinary victims, and narratives of response and rescue. This shift towards a more compassionate performance can be explained by the state's deployment of cultural resources to respond to societal challenges since the new millennium and its effort to repair its image amid the crises of 2008. The compassionate performance was temporarily effective because it found common ground with the traditional political culture of disaster, which still shapes the public's expectations of the state's moral conduct, and the new public culture that values equality and dignity of human life. Nevertheless, the political dilemmas of the compassionate performance became evident. Its efficacy largely relied on the presentation of suffering at the scene, which, however, led to public demands for the state to address the causes of the suffering. When the state failed to construct an "accountable state" image, this "dilemma of scene" had repercussions for its legitimacy. The efficacy of paternalism was also limited because it was less appealing to the growing urban middle class. By addressing moral performance, this paper contributes to the literature on politics of disaster and advances the important research agenda on cultural governance.
In: The China quarterly: an international journal for the study of China, Band 226, S. 407-430
ISSN: 0305-7410, 0009-4439
In: The China quarterly, Heft 226, S. 407-430
ISSN: 1468-2648
This article examines the Chinese state's moral performance during several major disasters, including the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the 1998 Yangtze River floods, and the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. Drawing on the theatrical theory of symbolic politics, I argue that the Sichuan earthquake marked a turn in the state's moral performance. While the Chinese state continued to project an image of a secure, heroic state, it endeavoured to construct a sympathetic image through leaders' displays of compassion and sorrow, a mourning ritual for ordinary victims, and narratives of response and rescue. This shift towards a more compassionate performance can be explained by the state's deployment of cultural resources to respond to societal challenges since the new millennium and its effort to repair its image amid the crises of 2008. The compassionate performance was temporarily effective because it found common ground with the traditional political culture of disaster, which still shapes the public's expectations of the state's moral conduct, and the new public culture that values equality and dignity of human life. Nevertheless, the political dilemmas of the compassionate performance became evident. Its efficacy largely relied on the presentation of suffering at the scene, which, however, led to public demands for the state to address the causes of the suffering. When the state failed to construct an "accountable state" image, this "dilemma of scene" had repercussions for its legitimacy. The efficacy of paternalism was also limited because it was less appealing to the growing urban middle class. By addressing moral performance, this paper contributes to the literature on politics of disaster and advances the important research agenda on cultural governance. (China Q/GIGA)
World Affairs Online
In: The China journal: Zhongguo yan jiu, Heft 71, S. 91-108
ISSN: 1324-9347
A consensus crisis is characterized by challenges to the state's managerial capacity, a critical need for civil society's services, a general agreement on priorities and goals, and the state's efforts to construct a morally respectable image. These features amplify the structural conditions favorable for relatively amicable state-society interactions. Existing studies of social response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake focus on state-society relations, but neglect the role of situations. I argue that the earthquake is an example of a consensus crisis, which provided civil associations with a situational opening of political opportunity. (China J/GIGA)
World Affairs Online
In: The China journal: Zhongguo-yanjiu, Band 71, S. 91-108
ISSN: 1835-8535
In: Contexts / American Sociological Association: understanding people in their social worlds, Band 12, Heft 1, S. 42-46
ISSN: 1537-6052
Public mourning is not a spontaneous expression of grief but a symbolic and political practice. Sociologist Bin Xu examines a new trend in recent decades, the "democratization of public mourning," that celebrates our symbolic equality and individuality instead of affirming status hierarchies.
In: Theory and society: renewal and critique in social theory, Band 42, Heft 5, S. 509-542
ISSN: 1573-7853
In: China economic review, Band 21, Heft 4, S. 671-672
ISSN: 1043-951X