Discipline and moralise

Gratitude education for China’s migrant families

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11893333
AutoresYi Wan (0000-0002-4125-8396, Beijing Normal University), Wan Yi (0000-0002-3098-1327, Beijing Normal University, autor correspondente), Edward Vickers (0000-0002-5061-6204, Kyushu University)
Ano2024
Volume60
Fascículo1
Páginas77-95
Data de publicação2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoComparative Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0305-0068 • E-ISSN: 1360-0486
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03050068.2023.2296191
OpenAlexW4390538100
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas32

The problems China's rural-born migrants face in accessing urban public services, including education, are widely known. This article analyses how official discourse attributes migrant children's vulnerability to their 'problematic family background' while exhorting them to show 'gratitude' to a benevolent state. Combining documentary analysis and insights from fieldwork, we examine how 'gratitude education' seeks to inculcate notions of a moral hierarchy in which migrants are subordinate or inferior. We further investigate parental beliefs and practices with respect to gratitude, and family participation in related educational activities. The findings indicate that such activities constitute just one aspect of a broader strategy that extends to initiatives focused on governance and philanthropy. Programmes of gratitude education are one tactic for concealing the deficiencies in government action on rural migrants' behalf. By associating entitlement to public goods with individual or familial propriety, they aim to legitimate the institutional barriers that ensure migrants' enduring marginalisation

Business · China · Corporate governance · Economic growth · Entitlement (fair division · Government (linguistics · Gratitude · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · State (computer science · Vulnerability (computing · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics