Children and television in China: a critical inquiry
Year: 1992
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Drawing on original research that I conducted in the People's Republic of China, this thesis\nargues for a critical approach to the study of children and television. It begins with a survey of\nprevious literature in the area in order to locate my own study in its intellectual context. This is\nfollowed by critical reappraisals of the approaches developed by empiricist and interpretative\nstudies, which identify their main problems and set the ground for the central theoretical\nargument for a critical approach.\nThe third chapter is devoted to the exposition of the case for a critical inquiry, the gist of which is\nto link the micro with the macro levels of social life, and to link biography with history. In the\ncase of this particular study, the task is to relate the situated activity of children's television\nviewing and parents' reaction to it, to the broader historical and cultural formations in Chinese\nsociety.\nThe fourth chapter is an account of the evolution of children's television in China, tracing its\nmovement from ideological indoctrination and intellectual education (from the late 1950s to the\nearly 1980s) to the tendency towards commercialization (from the mid 1980s onwards).\nThe following two chapters consist of the empirical core of the thesis. Chapter 5 is a general\nstudy of children's viewing activity, with particular attention being paid to tile modes through\nwhich Chinese parents attempt to execute control over their children's viewing. In the final\nchapter, the recent trend of commercialization of children's television is further explored by way\nof a case study of the craze for Transformers cartoon series and toy range in China and its\nrelation to the rise of consumerism. The thesis concludes by indicating new lines of inquiry for\nfuture research on China opened up by this piece of work.
Author: Bin Zhao
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W66964209