From Burden of Responsibility to Pride of Contribution

A Search for Balance Among Competing Moralities in Chinese Classrooms

Bibliographic Data

ID14633754
AuthorsLan Jiang (0000-0002-4097-1341, Boston University, corresponding author), Liu Jiang (0000-0002-9578-2388, Boston University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume57
Issue2
Publication date2026-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropology & Education Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0161-7761 • E-ISSN: 1548-1492
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/aeq.70077
OpenAlexW7153773446
LanguageEN
References cited29

This paper explores ethnographically how Chinese youth navigated competing, but not mutually incompatible, demands between collective responsibility and self‐interest in their everyday lives under the Class Cadre System—a nationwide student leadership and classroom management institution. This research advances the anthropological framework of competing moralities to conceptualize the experiences of Chinese youth and proposes a search for moral balance as a valuable lens for understanding how young people negotiate these demands in both school and society

Balance (ability · Class (philosophy · Educational anthropology · Ethnography · Negotiation · Pride · Reading (process · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Global Education and Multiculturalism

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