Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China
Drawing upon 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in China from 2013 to 2014, this article argues that moral hierarchies within autism parenting in fact reproduce local socioeconomic inequalities. In China, medical specialists, special education teachers and prominent parent advocates attempt to mana...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128391 |
| _version_ | 1826217789004709888 |
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| author | Lin, Emily Xi |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society Lin, Emily Xi |
| author_sort | Lin, Emily Xi |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Drawing upon 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in China from 2013 to 2014, this article argues that moral hierarchies within autism parenting in fact reproduce local socioeconomic inequalities. In China, medical specialists, special education teachers and prominent parent advocates attempt to manage autism in a context of scarce resources by teaching parents how to serve as their children’s lifelong therapists. Yet, by focusing primarily on parents’ love for their children, while neglecting pragmatic issues related to social–economic disparities, autism advocates fail to understand the difficulties of parents with few socioeconomic resources. I illustrate my arguments by delving deeply into two case studies which illustrate both extremes of the moral hierarchy in autism parenting within China. In ethnographically attending to how parents are made into behavioral therapists and the moral hierarchies within autism parenting in China, this paper describes a culturally specific adoption of ABA. This article argues that scholars and local disability advocates need to pay closer attention to local particularities, including cultural histories of parenting, as well as the complex interactions between disability and social and economic inequalities, so as to better comprehend and address the immediate, existential, and long-range challenges which parents with little social capital face in managing autism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:09:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/128391 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:09:11Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1283912022-09-30T00:02:38Z Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China Lin, Emily Xi Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society Drawing upon 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in China from 2013 to 2014, this article argues that moral hierarchies within autism parenting in fact reproduce local socioeconomic inequalities. In China, medical specialists, special education teachers and prominent parent advocates attempt to manage autism in a context of scarce resources by teaching parents how to serve as their children’s lifelong therapists. Yet, by focusing primarily on parents’ love for their children, while neglecting pragmatic issues related to social–economic disparities, autism advocates fail to understand the difficulties of parents with few socioeconomic resources. I illustrate my arguments by delving deeply into two case studies which illustrate both extremes of the moral hierarchy in autism parenting within China. In ethnographically attending to how parents are made into behavioral therapists and the moral hierarchies within autism parenting in China, this paper describes a culturally specific adoption of ABA. This article argues that scholars and local disability advocates need to pay closer attention to local particularities, including cultural histories of parenting, as well as the complex interactions between disability and social and economic inequalities, so as to better comprehend and address the immediate, existential, and long-range challenges which parents with little social capital face in managing autism. National Science Foundation (Grant 1330398) 2020-11-06T20:32:38Z 2020-11-06T20:32:38Z 2018-06 2020-09-24T21:52:13Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1745-8552 1745-8560 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128391 Lin, Emily Xi. "Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China." BioSocieties 14, 2 (June 2018): 155–178 © 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd en http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41292-018-0123-2 BioSocieties Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature application/pdf Springer Science and Business Media LLC Palgrave Macmillan UK |
| spellingShingle | Lin, Emily Xi Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China |
| title | Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China |
| title_full | Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China |
| title_fullStr | Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China |
| title_short | Moral hierarchies within autism parenting: Making parent-therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary China |
| title_sort | moral hierarchies within autism parenting making parent therapists and perpetuating disparities within contemporary china |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128391 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT linemilyxi moralhierarchieswithinautismparentingmakingparenttherapistsandperpetuatingdisparitieswithincontemporarychina |