Reflect on the progress made in American and Chinese societies.
The CDE lessons have been pretty informative in the past few weeks, going very in depth with the individual presentations of students, and more information supplemented by Mr Karplus. However, I felt that it has been a little too content heavy, despite giving us brief gasps of air during the class discussions, and we could probably go for a more attractive lesson, like the first few which had videos most of the time.
To talk about the progress made in American and Chinese societies, we must first define what progress is. In my opinion (and in the context of this module), progress refers to how much more freedom women have within the society, and how much more people take note of politics. However, we must be prudent in our choice of indicators for this progress, or any progress of the sort, as the wrong one could result in a false positive or false negative, and in our case, a combination of various social indicators would probably be the best.
Political apathy is a prevalent plague in both America and China, more so in China I believe. The chinese were politically active in the 20th century, with the youths particularly active in the later half, due to the various economic and political issues that popped up within the country. This happened much earlier in the United States, possibly as they embraced democracy much sooner than the Chinese, and also allow for the freedom of speech, unlike China which has a strict censorship system in place, bringing about more discussion on the political issues among the people.However, it is interesting to note that the times when people are the most politically active are during times of turmoil and trouble, regardless of country. Political apathy in both countries today could possibly be attributed to the reduction in social and economic problems within the country, or even the ignorance of the people to such problems. It is observed that the population of the country, may it be America or China, are relatively satisfied with the status quo (except in certain rural parts in China, and possibly the lower income group in America, both of which make up the minority in the population), and hence do not want or find the need to be active or aware about the politics happening in the country, as whoever is doing their job wherever they are are already doing it pretty darn well, and who wouldn't like that? This in face could be the main reason why the people of both countries have "progressed" to become a politically apathetic society.
In both America and China, women are still discriminated against, especially in the workforce. Under Mao Zedong, the women in China were equal to their male counterparts, equally poor and hungry, but nonetheless equal. However, in present day, women are discriminated against in employment (especially pregnant women), and in pay. In America, the situation is quite the opposite, women have progressed from being oppressed and underrepresented, to becoming an increasingly dominant force in the economy and politics. This divergence in the progress within both countries, one backwards and another forward, could be a reminder of how different both countries' history are. The chinese have their traditional confucian thinking which dictates that women should submit to their husbands, and as the confucian way is deeply rooted within the chinese society, it is no wonder that some of them stubbornly cling to such backward thinking, instead of evolving the way of thinking to suit the present situation. The American society however, have women being very vocal, beginning with them fighting for suffrage, moving on to working rights and such. The open platforms and freedom of speech available in America serves as a great catalyst for the rise of women (despite them still not on equal ground as men yet), allowing them to garner support and progress in the area of gender equality.
Even though the world is so big, the problems plaguing different countries are so similar. Both America and China have been fighting for progress within their own societies, but without an overhaul of the mindsets of the people, and making certain processes (in hiring, setting basic pay levels, etc) more transparent, this progress will begin to slow down as we reach certain limits, ones that we set for ourselves.
Your points are valid, and you have managed to answer the question well. Your point on the equality of women has interested me. Your claim is that women's equality have in fact decreased in China after the communist era, while the equality of women in the US has increased. This is not necessarily the case. Women in China are now also getting more recognition, and have more say in their homes and marriages. Furthermore, to say that women were equal to men in the communist era because everyone was supposed to be equal is not a valid assumption. The communist era, no matter how fair and equal it was supposed to be, never turned out to be anything like it. It was corrupted and unsuccessful, and we cannot so simply say that women had equal rights to men of that time.
ReplyDeleteYour conclusion is well thought of,and I would like to say that it is highly unlikely that either country would have any sort of "mindset overhaul", especially China. With both countries being relatively successful, it is unlikely that either one would like to give up that winning formula. Furthermore, the Chinese government, which is elected through internal power struggles, would be highly unlikely in choosing anyone that would make any sort of big changes in the Chinese society. People like Hu Jintao, who was very conservative, and the current Xi JinPing, who is known for being safe with his policies fit that bill very well, and would unlikely be making any changes.