Where neoliberalism shapes Confucian notions of child rearing: Influencers, experts and discourses of intensive parenting on Chinese Weibo

Zhao, Wenting; Bouvier, Gwen

doi:10.1016/j.dcm.2021.100561

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…I always thought that my job at the office had similarities with my new manager role at home. Although I did not perceive my child as a “project” to be managed, the household suddenly became a “complex project that requires constant management and expert skills” (Zhao and Bouvier, 2022). Retrieving and evaluating necessary information, assessing risks, staying in close communication with my team, preparing executive summaries for the dad and other family members and making plans and implementing them were the common points of the job descriptions of both managerial positions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do you manage? An auto-ethnographic inquiry into contemporary maternal labor

Baliç

2023

EDI

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PurposeThis article tackles the intersection of mothering and labor through the author's own experience as a feminist mother/manager from Istanbul, Turkey. It aims to revisit the first years of motherhood, exploring the struggle to invent a peculiar maternal subjectivity in opposition and negotiation with the patriarchal institution of motherhood, the new definition of maternal labor in a highly digital, neoliberal context and the issue of marital fairness in a dual-income heterosexual marriage.Design/methodology/approachThe article presents an autoethnographic, retrospective and introspective inquiry into the first seven years of the author's mothering experience in order to offer an in-depth exploration of the various aspects of contemporary maternal labor.FindingsThe article shows how maternal labor has shifted in nature and expanded in scope in a contemporary non-Western context. It investigates the dissolution of the spatial, temporal and sensorial boundaries between the managerial labor dedicated to the workplace, and to the family. Highlighting the similarities of the two forms of labor, the article manifests the materiality, tangibility and visibility of maternal labor.Research limitations/implicationsFurther intersectional studies shall be beneficial to redefine maternal labor in different contexts.Practical implicationsDeparting and diverting from the terms “invisible labor” and “mental load”, the article suggests a shift in terminology to stress the multifaceted medley of managerial tasks mothers undertake today.Originality/valueThe article provides an original take on maternal labor through the first-hand experience of a middle-class, professional mother from Istanbul, Turkey.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do you manage? An auto-ethnographic inquiry into contemporary maternal labor

Baliç

2023

EDI

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“…Critical discourse analysis has been widely used to study representations of mothers and mothering in diverse media (Astudillo-Mendoza and Cifuentes-Zunino, 2022; Atkinson, 2014; Kinloch and Jaworska, 2021; Zhao and Bouvier, 2022). CDA seeks to understand how texts have systematic social effects, for example through language choices that privilege certain ways of looking at the world.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CDA seeks to understand how texts have systematic social effects, for example through language choices that privilege certain ways of looking at the world. The interest in the analysis below is not in what discourse describes but in what it accomplishes (Potter and Wetherell, 1987; Wetherell and Potter, 1988); in other words, how the four discursive scripts (Zhao and Bouvier, 2022) of perfection, privacy, politics and play are constructed and contested through these texts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last two decades, motherhood online has emerged as a distinct field of scholarly enquiry (Mackenzie and Zhao, 2021). Using a range of sites, apps and social media, researchers have sought to understand how motherhood is performed and represented in online spaces (Astudillo-Mendoza and Cifuentes-Zunino, 2022; Krzyżanowska, 2020; Zhao and Bouvier, 2022). Some authors have started to explore how, in the contemporary world, online activity is not something that somehow happens after the tasks of mothering, a way of representing activities that have been completed, but is actually part of doing mothering per se.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The virtual mother: Mumsnet and the emergence of new forms of ‘good mothering’ online

Bailey

2022

Discourse & Communication

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Whilst previous research into mothering on social media has focused on representations of intensive mothering ideology, this paper argues that social media are fundamentally changing mothering discourses for some users. The paper explores ‘good’ mothering in digital communities by considering: the legitimised expression of ambivalent emotions in digital mothering communities; the shifting relationship between private and public, with implications for new forms of maternal intimacy; the forms of surveillance engaged in, and resisted, online; and the opportunities for women to play with alternative identities. Through analysis of posts on the British mothering internet forum ‘Mumsnet’, the paper suggests the concept of virtual mothering to encapsulate the emerging ways in which mothering is performed through online spaces. Four aspects of virtual mothering discourse are explored – perfection, privacy, politics and play.

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“…Besides, the "one-child policy" issued in 1982 provides more educational opportunities for women and enhances their educational levels objectively [5]. More importantly, scholars such as Gillies (2008; as cited in Zhao and Bouvier, 2022), Smyth and Craig (2017; as cited in Zhao and Bouvier, 2022) insist that the ideas of individualism and hedonism propagated in neoliberalism were also spread throughout China and accepted by the emerging Chinese middle class, which is called a "mental conversion" [6,4]. The Forth Fourth United Nations World Conference of Women in Beijing was a substantiation that Chinese women have begun to seek liberation in the mental stage, recognizing the significance of selfagency and challenging the state-imposed gender roles [7].…”

Section: Women's Identity Under Neo-liberalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Myth of Women’s Fates under Patriarchal Crisis Control: A Case Study on Heroine’s Characterization in Mid-Covid 19 Chinese TV Series

Yan²

2023

SHS Web Conf.

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2018 witnessed some unprecedently strict regulations on national media content production and distribution by the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA). On its annual recommended lists of excellent national TV series, there is a noticeable increase in historical series in line with core socialist values. Since late 2019, there has been a strict home-quarantine policy amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Accompanied by the newly introduced three-child birth policy in the context of the country’s low fertility rate and significant ageing, a re-emphasis on traditional Confucian ideologies incented by the Chinese authorities emerged: the primary identity of women being an understanding wife and loving mother. Furthermore, thus, a manifestation of such enforced patriarchal ideologies and cultural values is visible in the country’s strictly regulated media content. This study sets off from a corpus of national recommended TV lists to investigate the myth of women’s fates in amid-pandemic Chinese TV series that are appraised and supported by authorities to explore how their identities are constructed and potentially abused under patriarchal media production.

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Where neoliberalism shapes Confucian notions of child rearing: Influencers, experts and discourses of intensive parenting on Chinese Weibo

Cited by 14 publications

References 42 publications

How do you manage? An auto-ethnographic inquiry into contemporary maternal labor

How do you manage? An auto-ethnographic inquiry into contemporary maternal labor

The virtual mother: Mumsnet and the emergence of new forms of ‘good mothering’ online

The Myth of Women’s Fates under Patriarchal Crisis Control: A Case Study on Heroine’s Characterization in Mid-Covid 19 Chinese TV Series

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