Guest Talk Prof Biao Xiang

30 June 2025, 16.15
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Oettingenstraße 67
80538 München

Prof. Dr. Biao Xiang (Max-Planck-Institut für Ethnologie, Halle):

Recognition as approval and recognition as understanding: the changing social organization of appreciation, power and self-worth in China

Abstract

For some Chinese, especially the relatively young and educated, the pursuit of social recognition and the need to prove self-worth – a fundamental human need – has become an ever heavier burden in life. This article proposes an analytical framework that may help to think why this is the case and how people can deal with that. I distinguish two modes of recognition: rende (a Chinese term that I translate as recognition-as-understanding) and renke (recognition-as-approval). Rende means mutual understanding between equal subjects, whereas renke is the affirmation of individuals’ value by authorities based on achievements. Over the last four decades renke gradually replaced rende as the foundation for self-validation. People's desire for inter-personal understanding paradoxically exacerbates their attachment to formal approval because the latter is seen as a basis of the former. Behind this are changes in the way of how appreciation, honour and power relation are socially organized. Individuals can act on the ways of how recognition is organized, which action may impact the more general social condition.

Download Flyer (76 KB)
Download Program (81 KB) Oberseminar Summer Term 2025