Jing Xu

The Good Child

Moral Development in a Chinese Preschool

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Jing Xu is Affiliate Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington and Research Associate of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 248
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. Juli 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 226mm x 150mm x 13mm
• Gewicht: 340g
• ISBN-13: 9781503602434
• ISBN-10: 1503602435
• Artikelnr.: 47281003

Autorenporträt

Jing Xu is Affiliate Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington and Research Associate of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: Becoming a Moral Child in China
chapter abstract
This chapter presents an overview of the motivation and structure of this
book. The chapter introduces the theoretical vision of bridging
anthropology and psychology in understanding mind-culture relations,
through the important example of early moral development. It then
introduces the particular case of China, traces its historical moral
education traditions, and links them to the present discussions of "moral
crisis" and the one-child policy. It also documents fieldwork settings in
Shanghai, and explains the unique methodology of combining ethnographic and
experimental methods. It also zooms into the beginning phase of
fieldwork--the transitional time when children leave home and start
school/collective life--to provide a detailed description of Biyu
preschool, and to point to important themes to be explored in the following
chapters. Lastly, the chapter summaries the research questions and outlines
the content and organization of the following chapters.
1Cultivating Morality: Educational Aspirations and Anxieties
chapter abstract
This chapter explores socializers' educational aspirations and anxieties
under the one-child policy in an era of "moral crisis," providing an
overview of moral education experiences at the Biyu preschool. On the one
hand, policy and severe competition in China today have reinforced the
culturally ingrained value of educational success, leading to outsize
aspirations. On the other hand, parents are burdened with enormous pressure
to cultivate a moral child. They believe that early childhood is critical
for the child's moral upbringing and they hope to better the future society
through moral education. Nonetheless, they perceive that society is not
good, especially in the context of Shanghai schools, imprinted with the
values of ruthless competition and materialism. This tension results in
profound educational dilemmas: disorientation in the face of conflicting
values, felt dissonance between ideology and reality, cynicism about moral
cultivation, and despair about China's future moral prospects.
2Feeling into Another's Heart: When Empathy Is Endangered
chapter abstract
This chapter explores how socialization processes tune and twist young
children's nascent propensity to empathize with and care for others in the
Chinese context. The education of empathy is situated in broader
perceptions about contemporary China as a callous society, as Chinese
people's soul-searching after and discussion about the Little Yueyue case
demonstrates. These perceptions result in a tension in empathy education,
between cultivating emotional sensitivity and directing empathy to others
in need, and suppressing empathy in occasions that require vigilance to
avoid exploitation. The chapter brings together the ancient Confucian
philosophy that features empathy as a fundamental, inborn human virtue and
the recent empirical studies on empathy, thus adding a developmental and
educational perspective to the emerging literature in anthropology on how
empathy is configured and mediated in cultural contexts.
3Negotiating Property Distribution: The Contested Space of Ownership and
Fairness
chapter abstract
In conversation with the burgeoning research on children's ownership and
fairness cognition in developmental psychology, this chapter integrates
ethnographic and experimental data to explore children's nuanced
motivations, tactics, and notions of ownership and fairness in their
property distribution, exchange and disputes. Educators highlight
children's natural and genuine disposition toward claiming ownership and
fairness. However, in educators' eyes, such natural dispositions are
contested and even distorted in the Chinese social environment. The chapter
demonstrates how, under such competing concerns and constrains, young
children gradually develop more complex ownership notions (such as the
first-possessor heuristic and then individual ownership) and fairness rules
(such as equality and merit) and how ownership and fairness understandings
are intricately intertwined in children's everyday interactions. All these
developments are situated in the broader social critique of the traditional
value of qian rang (deference, modesty, and generosity) and cynicism about
"hypocrisy" in China.
4Sharing Discourse and Practice: The Selfish Child,Generosity and
Reciprocity
chapter abstract
This chapter explores the world of sharing behavior and probes the
discrepancies between socializers' ideology and children's practice. School
educators and parents promote an egalitarian norm of sharing-"share with
everyone"-in the hope of cultivating altruism and cooperation, values seen
as a corrective to Chinese only children's selfishness. By contrast, young
children spontaneously engage in strategic sharing, such as identifying
good social partners, establishing reciprocal network and pleasing
authority. These strategic sharing practices resonate with the adult norm
of guanxi (exchange of favors) that is the object of ambivalent attitudes
in modern Chinese discourse. Combining ethnographic and experimental data,
the chapter analyzes the tension between egalitarian sharing ideology and
strategic sharing practice in reference to contrasting psychological
dispositions identified in moral development literature, and connects it to
the cultural practices of guanxi which are already visible to children
early on.
5Disciplining the Little Emperors: Navigating onShifting Grounds
chapter abstract
This chapter focuses on guanjiao (literally meaning "govern-educate"), an
all-encompassing Chinese concept of child socialization, and the beliefs
and practices regarding how parents, grandparents, and teachers educate the
"little emperors"-children born under the one-child policy. Instead of
treating guanjiao as a monolithic concept that emphasizes obedience and
hierarchy, the chapter delves into the tensions in guanjiao beliefs and
practices. It argues that middle-class parents in Shanghai today have
become more and more critical and self-reflexive in guanjiao. They
negotiate diverse and even conflicting values, based on their own
perceptions of the past and the present, as well as what they imagine as
"Chinese" versus "Western". Such negotiations occur simultaneously at the
intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergenerational levels, as reactions to
the increasingly competitive and uncertain society in which they hope their
children survive and succeed.
Conclusion: Becoming Human in a Time of Moral Crisis
chapter abstract
This concluding chapter provides a summary of the main arguments in this
book and articulates its scholarly contribution. The chapter begins with a
narrative that weaves together the author's personal reflections on growing
up in China and her intellectual pursuit, highlighting the centrality of
the Chinese concept "zuo ren." It then summarizes the key findings of
previous chapters--dilemmas that complicate the Chinese tradition of moral
cultivation, as well as Chinese children's creative agency that manifests
itself across moral domains. Then the chapter highlights the significant
contribution of this book, that is, it draws on theoretical fertilization
and methodological integration to gain a fuller understanding of moral
development, foregrounds children as the center of its analysis, and
emphasizes the importance of studying children in answering key questions
about humanity.