A Life Course Perspective on Chinese Youths: From the Transformation of Social Policies to the Individualization of the Transition to Adulthood

This open access book investigates from a life-course perspective the individualization process and the challenges faced by young adults in post-collectivist China, where people are enjoined to ＂liberate＂ (jiefang) their individual capacities, to ＂rely on themselves＂ (kao ziji) and to no longer ＂depend on the state＂ (kao guojia). Based on unique quantitative and qualitative data, this book provides a solid empirical portrait of Chinese youths and transformation of social policies in post-collectivist China

This book will be a great resource to students, academics as well as social scientists and policy-makers who wish not only to understand how, in such a short period of time, young adults and their families have managed to navigate from a relatively egalitarian society to one of the most unequal, but also how the articulation between socialist and neoliberal ideologies is reconfiguring social and economic relations as well as women’s and men’s life-course.

The basis of the English translation of this book from its French original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision and rewriting of the content was done by the author.

Sandra V. Constantin is a sociologist specialized in social policies. She completed her PhD at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. During her PhD, she was a member of the Swiss national centre of competence in research LIVES - Overcoming vulnerability: life course perspectives. Her research interests and expertise are focused on the analysis of social policy and inequalities. Her postdoctoral research focused on family policy, gender and care. Member of the COST Action (CA) ＂Who cares in Europe＂, she also investigates how social welfare demands from families shape both voluntary actions and State provisions. As a board member of the European Sociological Association (ESA)’s research network 14 - Gender relations in the labor market and the Welfare State - she is engaged in the rethinking of the welfare state from the perspective of gender.