Community Education in Contemporary China: Balancing Individualism and Collectivism

• In Event: Chinese roundtable II (Sponsored by SIG: East Asia)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Identity and moral education

Proposal

The Chinese state apparatus has historically viewed education as a tool to inculcate youth into party politics while also promoting nationalism. Community education has been no exception. However, the rise of individualism across society, brought on in part by rapid economic growth in recent decades, has challenged the meaning of community. What does community education look like in a society where human subjectivity is increasingly based on individuality? This question is particularly important in the context of China because of its long history of state-mandated collectivism and the contemporary phenomenon of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) providing some educational services.

Historically, the concept of “community” took the form of a unit. Units were groups of people, organized by the state, that lived in the same area and worked in pre-determined occupations, typically inside factories. The state provided units with social services, such as education and medical care, as well as provided housing and other public facilities. Community Education, during this time, was for adults to learn how to read and write as well as for training in skills needed in the specific factories serviced by the unit. The units were based on the idea of collectivism because by living and learning together people would be able to work more effectively and efficiently (or so thought the State). The added benefit was that collective units were easily managed from the top.

With the advent of capitalism, collectivism in units was challenged by market forces that emphasized individualism. New forms of community education emerged that sat alongside the existing system. On the one hand, community education organized by the State provided residents with higher vocational education, adult higher education, career training, continuing education, and a variety of social and cultural life education activities. This system of community education, although emphasizing the concept of individualism (by removing the term ‘unit’ for instance), actually continued the traditional collectivism organized by the State. However, on the other hand, a new form of community education has emerged recently that is organized not by the State but by NGOs. NGOs working in community education could be seen to embody the ideas of individualism while eschewing collectivism. This would then directly challenge the State’s goals of advancing nationalism and party loyalty through education.

This presentation presents a case study of one NGO offering community education. Dinghaiqiao Mutual Aid Society was formed in 2013 in Yangpu-District (Northeast Shanghai). It offers various activities, such as art exhibitions, photography, and painting classes, and is based on the principle of reciprocity, where people directly organize activities and events. This conflicts with the traditional way of organizing community education because the state is not involved in any organizational decision. However, it is also not entirely individual because people within the group make collective decisions. Based on interviews with staff members and participants, this presentation details the formation of this group, its activities, and what NGOs mean for the larger concept of community education in China.

Author

• Yingxue Yang, Tokyo University