The DOI matches its Crossref record; 50 of the 52 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Chinese path to individualization
Abstract
This article explores the rise of the individual and the consequential individualization of society which should be viewed as a reflexive part of China's state‐sponsored quest for modernity. It traces the origin of the individualization process to the Maoist era, arguing that some collectivist programmes of social engineering and the socialist path of modernization under Maoism ironically resulted in a partial individualization of Chinese society. Examining profound social changes during the three decades of the post‐Mao reforms, the article reveals a number of similarities with the individualization process in Western Europe but also demonstrates some important differences. In the last section, the theoretical implications of the Chinese case in light of Ulrich Beck's theory of individualization and second modernity are discussed.
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“Individualization in China, like in many other countries, is characterized by profound social transformations such as the increasing legalization of the desires of the individual; the intensification of individual competition; a surge of movements promoting individual rights; and a general shift in the balance between the individual, social groups, and modern institutions of the state.”
From Learning Individualism: Hesse, Confucius, and Pep-Rallies in a Chinese Rural High School (2013) · cites this paper as Yan 2010, 507
In the citing paper
“Sang-Jin Han, Young-Hee Shim, and most poignantly Yunxiang Yan, have argued that individualization is a global trend and therefore is not confined to Western European societies with long established democracies, welfare states, and a notion of the individual as being autonomous.”
From Learning Individualism: Hesse, Confucius, and Pep-Rallies in a Chinese Rural High School (2013) · cites this paper as Yan 2010
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Metadata
- Authors
- Yan, Y.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yan, Yunxiang
- ORCID
- Yan, Yunxiang
- Venue
- The British Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-09
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 489-512
- ISSN
- 0007-1315 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-4446
- OpenAlex
- W1789051580
- Cited by
- 639
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 61 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 64 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 101.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- British Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Modernity and Self-Identity
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Chinese history and philosophy
- Keywords
- individualization, Chinese society, modernization, Maoism, collectivism, social engineering, post-Mao reforms, Ulrich Beck, second modernity, Western Europe comparison, individual and state
- MeSH terms
- China, Employment, Humans, Individuality, Politics, Self Concept, Social Change, Social Environment, Socialism, Personal Autonomy, History, 20th Century
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