Constructing a Micro-Foundation of Social Values of Working-Class Youth in China

Abstract

In this talk, Professor PUN Ngai will explore the existence of social values that are practiced by the Chinese working-class youth as an alternative form of agency and every-day practices. Employing in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations in vocational schools in China, at sites for the nurturing of working-class youth, Professor PUN asks concretely what social values are, how they are perceived and exercised, and by whom. From students’ practices of care in schools, cooperation in the workplace, and solidarity in the community, she attempts to build a micro-foundation of social values that challenges and transgresses the logic of exchange value.