Between technology of self and technology of power: the volunteer phenomenon in Guangzhou, China.

Autor/in	Fleischer, Friederike
Institution	Max-Planck-Institut für Ethnologische Forschung (Halle, Saale)
Titel	Between technology of self and technology of power: the volunteer phenomenon in Guangzhou, China. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Zwischen der "Technologie des Selbst" und der "Technologie der Macht". Das Phänomen der Freiwilligen in Guangzhou, China.
Quelle	Halle (2009), 18 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Working Papers. 111
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie; Graue Literatur
ISSN	1615-4568
Schlagwörter	Jugend; Motivation; Bürgerschaftliches Engagement; Entwicklungsland; Soziales Engagement; Zivilgesellschaft; Ehrenamtliche Arbeit; Freiwilligkeit; Foucault, Michel; Asien; China; Ostasien
Abstract	"Based on interviews and survey data with young people in Guangzhou, in this article I explore the recent popularity of volunteer work in China. I delineate several factors that play into the phenomenon, such as students' desire to break out of their strict routines, to engage in meaningful activities, to meet and interact with more people, and to contribute to China's development. By linking these issues to the socio-political, economic, and ideological transformations in China, I show that we cannot meaningfully distinguish between altruistic and self-interested motivations to volunteer. For the students, whom my research focused on, I suggest that volunteering is a means to transform themselves into modern, entrepreneurial, and responsible selves, necessary to meet the challenges of urban life in China today. At the same time, volunteering, encouraged and framed by the government, is a 'technology of power' in the Foucaultdian sense, that is, a means to nurture self-reliant and socially responsible individuals, necessary for the functioning of the reformed state. In effect, volunteerism is a locus where technologies of the self and 'governmentality' converge." (author's abstract).
Erfasst von	GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Mannheim
Update	2010/4