Chinese State Management of Moral-Political Education Text to Demonstrate Paternalism, 1902-2012

Abstract:

This presentation will address the question of how Chinese states from 1902 to 2012 have attempted to more broadly and effectively demonstrate their adherence to institutionalized Chinese cultural rules of good governance through the management of moral-political education text production and use. Such rules take the form of an institutional logic of paternalism. In showing how paternalism has been adapted throughout varying Chinese administrations, the presentation will addresses the question not only of endogenous change within paternalism but also of the effective expansion of the reach of the institutional logic throughout society. To address these issues, the presentation will detail three specific processes: theorization, rationalization, and incorporation. Empirical support for the arguments in the presentation is drawn from an intensive analysis of over 200 state directives on moral-political education and text management for the period from 1902 to 2012.

Speaker:

Dr Gregory P. Fairbrother
Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, The Education University of Hong Kong
Greg Fairbrother is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences. He has been engaged in research on citizenship (moral, political, ideological, national) education in China and Hong Kong for over 15 years. He is the author of Toward Critical Patriotism: Student Resistance to Political Education in Hong Kong and China (Hong Kong University Press, 2003) and co-editor of Citizenship Education in China: Preparing Citizens for the “Chinese Century” (Routledge, 2014).