Chinese Modernity and the Individual Psyche

Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and marketization have led to startling social changes in reform-era China. Mindful of the many forms of social theory that relate modernity to individualism, this volume addresses social and cultural change through the lens of psychological anthropology. The contributors explore Chinese modernity through the psychosocial contradictions experienced by artists, dancers, and poets; by mothers and daughters; by school children and migrant workers; the mentally ill, and others. As a whole, the book provides a disturbing but hopeful portrait of Chinese society, an opportunity to rethink the significance of the concept of modernity, and a vivid reminder of the enmeshment of individual psyches in their wider social and cultural environments.