Contemporary Chinese Parenting Anxieties: A Multiperspectival Cultural Analysis of a Chinese Telenovela: A Love For Dilemma

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Applications of Social and Cultural Capital Frameworks in Education Research (Table 9)

Abstract

Using Kellner's (1995) multiperspectival cultural studies (although adapted for a Chinese context) as both the theoretical framework and form of inquiry, I critically analyze A Love for Dilemma, a massive-hit Chinese telenovela narrating two Chinese middle-class city-based families tackling their young children's educational competition by examining the historical links between China's policies (e.g., ideology, population, economy, education, etc.) enacted during the reform era (1978-present) and China's growing education involution, as displayed in this show. I will cover three Chinese contemporary discourses: "post-80s," "parenting anxiety," and "involution" perpetuated by its "communist capitalism" (He & Chen, 2017) such as social capital and social justice/injustice. I also provide critiques for social problems (e.g., Chinese youth's rebellious spirits and family education) by situating Chinese contemporary educational issues, emerged in the telenovela, within the historical, cultural, social, political, and economic contexts in which post-80s Chinese live and form their educational creed.

Author

• Yining Zhang, Georgia Southern University