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
Citations
Cites
Risk Society, Towards a New Modernity
Leiss, W., Beck, U., Ritter, M., Lash, S. M., & Wynne, B. (1994) · The Canadian Journal of Sociology · doi:10.2307/3341155 · Cited by 12,553
Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity
Boyd, W. E., Beck, U., & Shrader‐Frechette, K. (1993) · Economic Geography · doi:10.2307/143601 · Cited by 9,278
Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age
(1992) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.29-3618 · Cited by 5,667
Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences
Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002) · doi:10.4135/9781446218693 · Cited by 3,529
(2002) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.39-4889 · Cited by 1,742
Desiring China: Experiments in Neoliberalism, Sexuality, and Public Culture
Rofel, L. (2007) · doi:10.1215/9780822389903 · Cited by 1,561
Rightful Resistance in Rural China
O’Brien, K. J., & Li, L. (2006) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511791086 · Cited by 1,114
Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry
Blecher, M. J. (1987) · Pacific Affairs · doi:10.2307/2759193 · Cited by 982
Young People and Social Change: Individualization and Risk in Late Modernity
Furlong, A., & Cartmel, F. (1997) · Cited by 893
Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry.
Goldman, P., & Walder, A. G. (1989) · Social Forces · doi:10.2307/2579283 · Cited by 769
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Fei Xiaotong, 1948, Xiangtu Zhongguo (Folk China)
- Ong Aihwa, 2008, Privatizing China: Socialism from Afar
- Palmer Michael, 2006, Consuming China: Approaches to Cultural Change in Contemporary China
- Wedell‐Wedellsborg Anne, 2010, iChina: The Rise of the Individual in Modern Chinese Society
- Wu Xiaobo, 2007, Jidang sanshinian: Zhongguo qiye 1978–2008
- Yan Yunxiang, 1994, China Review 1994
- Yan Yunxiang, 2010, iChina: The Rise of the Individual in Modern Chinese Society
- Zhou Yongming, 2008, Privatizing China: Socialism from Afar
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Floridi, L. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-04093-6 · Cited by 823
Varieties of second modernity: the cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory and research
Beck, U., & Grande, E. (2010) · British Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01320.x · Cited by 437
The Onlife Manifesto: Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era
Miskiewicz, W. A. (2015) · Library Review · doi:10.1108/lr-04-2015-0034 · Cited by 338
Intergenerational Intimacy and Descending Familism in Rural North China
Yan, Y. (2016) · American Anthropologist · doi:10.1111/aman.12527 · Cited by 326
Self-citationLesthaeghe, R. (2020) · Genus · doi:10.1186/s41118-020-00077-4 · Cited by 297
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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