{"product_id":"two-dimensional-people-tan-tongxue-9781032403540","title":"Two-Dimensional People: Lives, Desires, and Social Attitudes in a Changing Chinese Village","description":"\u003cp\u003eBased on almost eight years of fieldwork in a town and a village in South China, this book analyzes contradictions among various dimensions of the peasant economy, social relationships, popular religion, and local politics in rural China. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCompared to many anthropological, sociological, and political studies of rural China, which regard Chinese peasants as one-dimensionally materialistic, politically conservative, egocentric (lacking public-mindedness, as in anthropologist Yan Yunxiang's notion of the \"uncivil individual\"), with collapsed beliefs, and thinking only of the present (or the \"today-ness of today\" according to anthropologist Liu Xin), this book shows that people in contemporary rural China are actually \"two-dimensional\" trying to combine the calculation of self-interest with affective networks of reciprocity, but often falling into awkwardness or cynicism, in a paradoxical symbiosis between nihilism and transcendence. While Marcuse used the words of Benjamin to analyze \"one-dimensional man,\" writing \"Only for the sake of the hopeless ones have we been given hope,\" this book writes of two-dimensional people, \"Only when the vast majority of ordinary people can find hope in everyday life can we finally be given hope!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book will be of interest to scholars and students of Sociology, Anthropology and East Asian Studies. It will also be a great read to those who are interested in contemporary China in general. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tan Tongxue\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1032403543\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781032403540\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Routledge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/30\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 392\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.36lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.75d","brand":"Tan Tongxue","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48087511695615,"sku":"9781032403540","price":190.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5d08b081-be67-44ec-b985-1b83ef6dd0e9.jpg?v=1769100479","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/two-dimensional-people-tan-tongxue-9781032403540","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}