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Confucian or Communist, Post‐Mao or Postmodern? Exploring the Narrative Identity Resources of Shanghai's Post‐80s Generation
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Thirty years after the post‐Mao reforms, twenty years after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, the next generation of “comrades” is emerging in China. They are called the Balinghou, or the “Post‐80s” generation, referring to the cohort born between 1980 and 1989. This article is taken from a broader study on the narrative resources that Shanghai's Post‐80s young adults call on to construct their identities, given the historical situation in which they live. Symbolic interactionism is useful for studying identity construction processes across cultural contexts, particularly in China where interactionist concepts have seen limited application to date. The discussion also explores the theoretical implications of structural elements that significantly alter the resources available for identity construction, such as the One Child Policy.
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“The first to mention is that they grew up during the later reform period under the market economy and market‑defined social and cultural conditions.13”
From Young Feminist Activists in Present-Day China: A New Feminist Generation? (2018) · cites this paper as Sabet 2011
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“The young feminist activists represented by the Feminist Five belong to the one-child generation, and most of them, but not all, were brought up as the only child in their family (Sabet 2011; Wu 2015).”
From Young Feminist Activists in Present-Day China: A New Feminist Generation? (2018) · cites this paper as Sabet 2011
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“By the time they reached their earlier adulthood, China’s economic reforms had deepened, gender discrimination had become widespread, and women’s conditions in general had deteriorated.14”
From Young Feminist Activists in Present-Day China: A New Feminist Generation? (2018) · cites this paper as Sabet 2011
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“In general, the young feminist activists have emerged from the population segment that was born in the 1980s and 1990s.”
From Young Feminist Activists in Present-Day China: A New Feminist Generation? (2018) · cites this paper as Sabet 2011
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Wang, Q. (2018) · NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research · doi:10.1080/08038740.2018.1531058 · Cited by 46
Young Feminist Activists in Present-Day China: A New Feminist Generation?
Wang, Q. (2018) · China Perspectives · doi:10.4000/chinaperspectives.8165 · Cited by 39
Metadata
- Authors
- Sabet, D.
- Affiliations
- Royal Roads University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Sabet, Denise
- Venue
- Symbolic Interaction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-09
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 536-551
- ISSN
- 0195-6086 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-8665
- OpenAlex
- W2135862889
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 4.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Symbolic Interaction (publishedVersion)
- VIUSpace (Vancouver Island University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Library and Archives Canada (Government of Canada) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Youth Culture and Social Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
- Keywords
- post-80s generation, identity construction, narrative identity, Shanghai, post-Mao China, Tiananmen Square protests, one-child policy, symbolic interactionism, young adults, Chinese youth, postmodernism, Confucianism, communism
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