
- 216 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
This book offers the first ethnographic account of the experiences of highly educated young professional women, hailed by the Chinese media as 'white-collar beauties'. It exposes the organizational mechanisms – naturalization, objectification and commodification of women – that wield gendered and sexual control in post-Mao workplaces. Whilst men benefit from symbolic and bureaucratic power, women professionals skilfully enact indirect power in a game of domination and resistance. The sources of women's subversion are grounded in their only-child upbringing which breaks the patrilineal base of familial patriarchy fostering an unprecedented ambition in personal development, gender as inherently relational and a role-oriented system, and inner-outer cultural boundaries as signifiers of moral agency. This raises a new feminist inquiry about the agents for social change. Through a nuanced analysis grounded in the socio-cultural locality, this book throws fresh light upon the ways in which gender, sexuality and power could be theorized beyond a Euro-American reality.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Series Editor’s Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Becoming ‘White-Collar Beauties’ in Urban China
- Chapter 3: Towards a Local Feminist Understanding of Gender and Sexuality
- Chapter 4: ‘The Weaker Sex’
- Chapter 5: Sex in Work
- Chapter 6: Sex as Work
- Chapter 7: Affect, Power and Resistance
- Chapter 8: Marriage and Family
- Chapter 9: Conclusion
- Index