[Air-L] China: networked individualism and Internet work-arounds

[Charles Ess]

Hi Barry and AoIRists,

As a wrinkle on your comment - my colleagues here working on this topic /
project argue that the Cultural Revolution actually inaugurated the movement
towards individualism in the P.R.C.  By removing very large numbers of
people from their traditional family and social structures - the structures
that define and reinforce more relational forms of selfhood / identity - the
Cultural Revolution thereby forced people to turn more to their own /
individual resources for identity, meaning, etc.

I mention this primarily as a way of inviting others on this list who study
China far more intensively than I do to comment.

Thanks again, and all best,
- c.


On 05.08.13 14:53, "Barry Wellman" <wellman at chass.utoronto.ca> wrote:

> I echo Charles Ess in noting the rise of individualism in China. (Or to
> put it another way, the ending of the short-term Cultural Rev suppression
> of individualism.)