School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan-Harvard Medical Anthropology Collaborative Research Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
School of Social Development and Public Policy, Department of Sociology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Cult Med Psychiatry. 2018 Mar;42(1):92-111. doi: 10.1007/s11013-017-9543-x.
This article investigates how the political culture of Guan (care/control) in China is played out across the platforms of the state, the community and the family through the lens of caring for people with severe mental illness in urban Shanghai. Based on ethnographic data collected from six communities in a district of Shanghai, we provide a nuanced understanding of the roles of family members, street committees and other governmental organizations in their daily practices of caring for people with severe mental illness. We show the complicated and intertwined relationships between local governmental agents and the family. We argue that the political culture of Guan, which permeates the everyday life of Chinese people, tends to objectify its subjects and reflects a long history of patriarchy in Chinese society. Without further changing such political cultural arrangements, respect for the agency of mentally ill patients, the effort of bringing humanistic psychiatric reforms to China, will be in vain.
本文通过关注上海市城市中患有严重精神疾病的人群，调查了中国的“guan（关心/控制）”政治文化如何通过国家、社区和家庭平台发挥作用。基于在上海市一个区的六个社区收集的民族志数据，我们深入了解了家庭成员、街道委员会和其他政府组织在日常照顾严重精神疾病患者方面的作用。我们展示了地方政府代理人与家庭之间复杂且相互交织的关系。我们认为，渗透中国人日常生活的“guan”政治文化往往使主体客体化，反映了中国社会中悠久的父权制历史。如果不进一步改变这种政治文化安排，尊重精神病患者的能动性，将人文精神的精神科改革引入中国的努力将付诸东流。
