Reconstructing Citizenship

This chapter revisits the findings from previous chapters, explaining how various social structures and agency shape the reconstruction of Chinese citizenship and citizenship education (CE). It reveals that the Party-state reconstructed a responsible socialist citizenship, influenced by its past revolutionary and socialist-building experiences, driven by its desire to maintain political legitimacy and develop China, and modified in response to challenges emerging during this developmental process. In this reconstruction, socialism, as a deep social structure for the Party-state, provided the foundation for socialist citizenship, while capitalism simultaneously posed challenges and offered resources for the Party-state’s redefinition of citizenship. However, the impact of official citizenship education on students was limited by the multiple social structures in which teachers and students were embedded, such as high-stakes testing and individualism. It was further shaped through their agency as they incorporated, modified, or resisted state discourses.