Abstract

In October 2021, the Chinese government promulgated the Family Education Promotion Law, legislation that exhorts parents to invest their time, money, and energy to raise children who are high-achieving and filial citizens. This new law is just the latest version of a state-produced discourse on parenting norms that can be traced back to the earliest years of the People’s Republic of China, and the Republican government that preceded it. But the law also reflects more recent developments, specifically, the emergence of a private education market that gives parents an illusion of empowerment while simultaneously reinforcing the normative framework produced by the state.
Based on immersive fieldwork in Nanjing with parents and educational institutions, I show that the increasing responsibility impressed upon parents regarding their child’s educational success has led to the professionalization of parenting practices and a reactivation of the process of political socialization among parents. The parent’s acute sense of responsibility regarding the future success or failure of their child illustrates how governing practices have disciplined the population and configured parents as subjects.
I show how urban middle-class parents negotiate and resist the pervasive presence of the state in their care for an only child. Some parents, particularly mothers, choose to voice their discontent online or in the streets. Other parents are choosing to exit China to find education resources abroad. These exit strategies, albeit less visible, also question the state’s capacity to provide an education for its population. I show that urban middle-class parents are neither state pawns nor democracy builders; rather they take advantage of the regime to reinforce their social position and secure their privileges. This dissertation examines such dynamics in the context of Nanjing, and shows the rising importance of parent activism, and its consequence on the urban middle class and the reproduction of various nationalist pressures. By focusing on struggles over education, the importance of parents as gendered and classed political actors in China and in the wider study of state-society relations, comes into sharp relief. Indeed, given that individuals are increasingly mobilizing under a parent-identity, comparative politics should conceptualize parents as political actors.