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Going towards a ‘perfect’ life : A qualitative study on urban middle-class young married women’s experiences and prospects on marriage life in China

Xu, Jiayu (2022) COSM40 20221
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
The self-evident contradictory governance ideology of the Chinese Communist Party leads to urban-born young middle-class Chinese women struggling between seeking one’s own path with the discourse of ‘individualism’ under the neoliberal market economy and conforming to the traditional role in the family of patriarchal culture. This is reflected in the increasing prominent phenomena of getting married later (after age 25). The aim of the thesis is to shed light on how suzhi (roughly translated as qualities a person possess) discourse being central to party-state governance ideology affects young urban middle-class Chinese women’s decision on marriage and prospects on marriage life with critical discursive psychology analysis. The analysis... (More)
The self-evident contradictory governance ideology of the Chinese Communist Party leads to urban-born young middle-class Chinese women struggling between seeking one’s own path with the discourse of ‘individualism’ under the neoliberal market economy and conforming to the traditional role in the family of patriarchal culture. This is reflected in the increasing prominent phenomena of getting married later (after age 25). The aim of the thesis is to shed light on how suzhi (roughly translated as qualities a person possess) discourse being central to party-state governance ideology affects young urban middle-class Chinese women’s decision on marriage and prospects on marriage life with critical discursive psychology analysis. The analysis showed that although these young women construct their decision and prospects as individual choices, the dominant interpretative repertoires identified in their narratives are in fact, aligned with the norm constructed in relation to suzhi discourse, indicating the governance ideology have impact on them in a subtle way. The resistance towards suzhi discourse shown through ‘troubled’ subject positions and ideology dilemma is not much but illuminate on their tendency to gloss over the self-reflection. (Less)
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author
Xu, Jiayu
supervisor
organization
course
COSM40 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Urban middle-class young women, Marriage, Suzhi, Governance ideology, China, Critical discursive psychology, Interpretative repertoires
language
English
id
9109493
date added to LUP
2023-01-31 11:33:28
date last changed
2023-01-31 11:33:28
@misc{9109493,
  abstract     = {{The self-evident contradictory governance ideology of the Chinese Communist Party leads to urban-born young middle-class Chinese women struggling between seeking one’s own path with the discourse of ‘individualism’ under the neoliberal market economy and conforming to the traditional role in the family of patriarchal culture. This is reflected in the increasing prominent phenomena of getting married later (after age 25). The aim of the thesis is to shed light on how suzhi (roughly translated as qualities a person possess) discourse being central to party-state governance ideology affects young urban middle-class Chinese women’s decision on marriage and prospects on marriage life with critical discursive psychology analysis. The analysis showed that although these young women construct their decision and prospects as individual choices, the dominant interpretative repertoires identified in their narratives are in fact, aligned with the norm constructed in relation to suzhi discourse, indicating the governance ideology have impact on them in a subtle way. The resistance towards suzhi discourse shown through ‘troubled’ subject positions and ideology dilemma is not much but illuminate on their tendency to gloss over the self-reflection.}},
  author       = {{Xu, Jiayu}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Going towards a ‘perfect’ life : A qualitative study on urban middle-class young married women’s experiences and prospects on marriage life in China}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}