Neoliberalism and Cultural Discourse: What is Missing in Neo-Liberalization in China?

• In Event: Short Intercultural Presentations (SIPs)

Abstract

The first part of the article explores the cultural explanations for why the ideology of neoliberalism is so entrenched in the US. It argues that the tenets of neoliberalism have successfully filtered into everyday life in America and blended with the core values in the cultural discourse such as American dream and consumerism. Nonetheless, cultural discourse such as the American dream and consumerism that legitimated and reinforced neo-liberalization in America was absent in China when the neoliberal transformation took place. The paper argues that the collapse of socialist values and the absence of neoliberal-friendly cultural discourse hollow out the meaning of material gain and disorient the Chinese in their pursuit of wealth. Chinese economic reform is sustainable only if it can be culturally rooted in its traditions.

Author

• Yunkang Yang, U of Washington