Individuality, subjectivation, and their civic significance in contemporary China: The cultivation of an ethical self in a cultural community. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yi, Lin
• Is Part Of: China information. Volume 33:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 329
• Page End: 349
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: civic significance -- ethics -- individualization and totalization -- Michel Foucault -- political spirituality -- subjectivity; China -- Periodicals; 951
• DOI: 10.1177/0920203X18800877
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0920-203X

Abstract

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?