The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths
This paper investigates the frustrated aspirations of three young Han working-class students in Inner Mongolia, Northern China. Drawing upon anthropological debates and philosophical developments in action theory, I argue that the subject qua actor ought not to be seen as an analytic construct that...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Anthropological Society
2024
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| _version_ | 1824459132133965824 |
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| author | Jiang, E |
| author_facet | Jiang, E |
| author_sort | Jiang, E |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This paper investigates the frustrated aspirations of three young Han working-class students in Inner Mongolia, Northern China. Drawing upon anthropological debates and philosophical developments in action theory, I argue that the subject qua actor ought not to be seen as an analytic construct that is given or presumed, but rather treated as an observable achievement that may be frustrated. Specifically, I argue that agency is exercised in cases when means and ends fit together, and this tenuous relationship between means and ends depend on an array of factors, which are often changeable in principle even if they do not change in real life. Along the way, I describe how amongst my Chinese interlocutors, the standards of agency – the normative assumptions of what counts as agentive – are tethered to aspirations to participate in the middle class. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:36:55Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:cc22ed87-a95e-4bb0-88b1-0ace2549c1da |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:36:55Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Oxford University Anthropological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:cc22ed87-a95e-4bb0-88b1-0ace2549c1da2025-01-31T15:35:18ZThe limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youthsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:cc22ed87-a95e-4bb0-88b1-0ace2549c1daEnglishBulkUploadJASO_2024Oxford University Anthropological Society2024Jiang, EThis paper investigates the frustrated aspirations of three young Han working-class students in Inner Mongolia, Northern China. Drawing upon anthropological debates and philosophical developments in action theory, I argue that the subject qua actor ought not to be seen as an analytic construct that is given or presumed, but rather treated as an observable achievement that may be frustrated. Specifically, I argue that agency is exercised in cases when means and ends fit together, and this tenuous relationship between means and ends depend on an array of factors, which are often changeable in principle even if they do not change in real life. Along the way, I describe how amongst my Chinese interlocutors, the standards of agency – the normative assumptions of what counts as agentive – are tethered to aspirations to participate in the middle class. |
| spellingShingle | Jiang, E The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths |
| title | The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths |
| title_full | The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths |
| title_fullStr | The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths |
| title_full_unstemmed | The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths |
| title_short | The limits of agency: aspirational frustrations amongst working-class Chinese youths |
| title_sort | limits of agency aspirational frustrations amongst working class chinese youths |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jiange thelimitsofagencyaspirationalfrustrationsamongstworkingclasschineseyouths AT jiange limitsofagencyaspirationalfrustrationsamongstworkingclasschineseyouths |