The Individualism of Chinese Altruism: the Ambiguities of Chinese Volunteers’ Moral Discourse

Abstract

Since 2008 - the Wenchuan earthquake and the Beijing Olympics - volunteering has become an increasingly visible phenomenon in China, both a popular movement expressing a desire for participation and solidarity, and the redeployment of techniques and structures for political mobilization of the revolutionary era, updated by the Party in the context of the market economy. However, this type of activity remains relatively marginal and often poorly understood, especially when it comes to a long-term commitment that involves sacrificing time devoted to career or family. In this conference, based on interviews, field surveys, literary productions and online discussions, with long-term volunteers in a migrant school in Beijing and in rural schools, we will consider the meaning that these volunteers give to their commitment. These volunteers are torn between two discourses of legitimization of volunteering that are current in China - the revolutionary discourse of self-sacrifice for the people, and the instrumentalist discourse of the career project enriched by extra-professional experiences. Refusing both of these discourses, many volunteers insist on their engagement as a free act without rational justification - the pure expression of a desire, an emotion, even a personal and unspeakable faith. and the instrumentalist discourse of the career project enriched by extra-professional experiences. Refusing both of these discourses, many volunteers insist on their engagement as a free act without rational justification - the pure expression of a desire, an emotion, even a personal and unspeakable faith. and the instrumentalist discourse of the career project enriched by extra-professional experiences. Refusing both of these discourses, many volunteers insist on their engagement as a free act without rational justification - the pure expression of a desire, an emotion, even a personal and unspeakable faith.