Compliant, cynical, or critical: Chinese youth's explanations of social problems and individual civic responsibility

This article explores how school-aged Chinese youth make meaning of the
civic roles of citizens in the context of a society with a powerful one-party
government. We examined how 16 focus groups (N = 64) of adolescents
from urban and rural schools in Shanghai and Nantong talked about the
causes and solutions of social problems facing China. Our analysis revealed
a broad range of explanations of social problems, framed by contrasting
narratives about the power relationship between the government and
citizens. We explore how two narratives, categorized as cynical and
compliant, dominated the group discussions in urban and rural schools,
respectively, and how a third narrative, categorized as critical, also emerged.