TY - JOUR
T1 - Developmental idealism in China
AU - Thornton, Arland
AU - Xie, Yu
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support for this research was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R24HD041028 to the University of Michigan and P2CHD047879 to Princeton University, as well as the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 71373012, 71461137001) to Peking University. We are grateful to Wangyang Li for her research assistance.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2016.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - This paper examines the intersection of developmental idealism with China. It discusses how developmental idealism has been widely disseminated within China and has had enormous effects on public policy and programs, on social institutions, and on the lives of individuals and their families. This dissemination of developmental idealism to China began in the 19th century, when China met with several military defeats that led many in the country to question the place of China in the world. By the beginning of the 20th century, substantial numbers of Chinese had reacted to the country’s defeats by exploring developmental idealism as a route to independence, international respect, and prosperity. Then, with important but brief aberrations, the country began to implement many of the elements of developmental idealism, a movement that became especially important following the assumption of power by the Communist Party of China in 1949. This movement has played a substantial role in politics, in the economy, and in family life. The beliefs and values of developmental idealism have also been directly disseminated to the grassroots in China, where substantial majorities of Chinese citizens have assimilated them. These ideas are both known and endorsed by very large numbers in China today.
AB - This paper examines the intersection of developmental idealism with China. It discusses how developmental idealism has been widely disseminated within China and has had enormous effects on public policy and programs, on social institutions, and on the lives of individuals and their families. This dissemination of developmental idealism to China began in the 19th century, when China met with several military defeats that led many in the country to question the place of China in the world. By the beginning of the 20th century, substantial numbers of Chinese had reacted to the country’s defeats by exploring developmental idealism as a route to independence, international respect, and prosperity. Then, with important but brief aberrations, the country began to implement many of the elements of developmental idealism, a movement that became especially important following the assumption of power by the Communist Party of China in 1949. This movement has played a substantial role in politics, in the economy, and in family life. The beliefs and values of developmental idealism have also been directly disseminated to the grassroots in China, where substantial majorities of Chinese citizens have assimilated them. These ideas are both known and endorsed by very large numbers in China today.
KW - China
KW - Developmental idealism
KW - developmental hierarchies
KW - social change
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U2 - 10.1177/2057150X16670835
DO - 10.1177/2057150X16670835
M3 - Article
C2 - 28316833
AN - SCOPUS:85050377986
SN - 2057-150X
VL - 2
SP - 483
EP - 496
JO - Chinese Journal of Sociology
JF - Chinese Journal of Sociology
IS - 4
ER -