Trent Bax

Internet Addiction in China: The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Youth

This paper analyzes the lifeworld of those labelled “Internet addicts” in China. Contrary to professional belief, such deviant youth are not simply having trouble controlling their Internet use, but, more seriously, with the normal functioning of society. Underneath this existential, ethical, and social crisis is a social-economic-political phenomenon which pivots around the competition—between China’s education system expressed through the parents (work), and its consumer society expressed through the online gaming industry (leisure)—for the hearts and minds of transforming and individualizing youth. These “Internet addicts” uncover not individual pathology but the following psycho-social-structural dilemma: citizens cannot live on economic reforms alone.

At the Cutting Edge of the City: Male Migrant Hairdressers in Shanghai

Abstract This article examines the emerging service industry in Shanghai through the prism of young male migrant hairdressers and their even younger assistants. These “cosmopolitan” service workers are framed within Lisa Rofels concept of “desiring China” in order to show how the service industry in Shanghai is a kind of “Goffmanian world”, in that the hairdresser must present and “sell” himself in particular ways on the “front-stage” of the market-driven service industry. By examining both the “impression management” and “emotional labour” of the hairdresser, I argue that not only are we able to observe Chinas opening up policy as it is embodied in the service worker, but we are also able to observe on the salon floor hierarchical and power labour relations at work and the emergence of a commodity-style subject. These young male migrant service workers are framed as a kind of complement, or extension, of the young female migrant industrial workers studied by Pun Ngai in her book Made in China. By comparing and contrasting the “Chinese working daughters” of the factory regime with the “Chinese working sons” of the service regime we are able to observe Shanghais structural shift from an industrial production centre to a service-based world city.

The Causes and Courses of Nonviolent and Violent Delinquency among South Korean Adolescents

ABSTRACT This study combines and compares data from the Korean Youth Panel Survey and the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey to examine the effects parenting, peers, school, social structure, and personality exert on nonviolent and violent delinquency among 5,462 male and 5,103 female adolescents in South Korea. Overall, parental effects were found to be more important than peer effects, but their influence diminishes relative to that of peer effects with age. The semiparametric group-based modeling approach identifies distinct groups of stable nondelinquents, stable moderates, moderate escalators, de-escalators, and desistors (but not chronic offenders). Lastly, this study does not provide support for a public discourse that infers juvenile delinquency has increased in frequency and severity.

“Internet Gaming Disorder” in China Biomedical Sickness or Sociological Badness?

“Internet addiction” in China and elsewhere is considered a serious social problem. In China, some psychiatrists have claimed 10% of all Internet users—60 million—are potentially “addicted” to the Internet. Following on the heels of the publication of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), this qualitative-based research article critically investigates the new concept Internet gaming disorder, a category recently included in the DSM-5 as a condition “warranting more clinical research and experience before it might be considered for inclusion in the main book as a formal disorder.” This article takes up this challenge and responds in the following way: When we investigate the social existence of online gamers labeled Internet addicts in China, and then subject their social existence to the DSM’s own definition of a mental disorder, we discover not a clearly understood mental disorder called Internet gaming disorder but more so an issue of social deviance.

A comparison of ‘psychosocially problematic gaming’ among middle and high school students in China and South Korea

Abstract This is the first study to compare the prevalence and predictors of problematic online gaming among middle and high school students in China and South Korea. Specifically, this study seeks to cross-culturally compare the impact gaming time, game genre, leisure environment, parental attachment, parental mediation and relationships with significant others have on ’psychosocially problematic gaming’ (PPG). In total, 3,109 students residing in five major cities in China and South Korea were sampled. Overall, more than twice as many Chinese respondents (30.4% vs. 11.4%) were found to be psychosocially problematic gamers (PPGers). In both countries, more males than females are PPGers. Few differences were found regarding preferences for game genre. Students in both China and Korea liked MMORPG, Sports/Racing, and Shooting games. In both countries, game playing time and game use after midnight were found to be important predictors of psychosocially problematic gaming. With regard to game genres, MMORPG games for South Korean respondents and Action games for Chinese respondents increased the likelihood of psychosocially problematic gaming. However, the leisure environment had little effect. As expected, parental attachment and mediation affected psychosocially problematic gaming among Chinese students but, surprisingly, not among South Korean students. Nevertheless, prosocial bonds with parents, friends, and teachers did significant protect against psychosocially problematic gaming in both countries. Based on these findings various prevention measures are suggested.

The Explosion: Political and Personal Reactions to School Violence

While Seung-min was the ‘initial spark’ that ignited the current concern about and increased sensitivity toward school violence)-related behaviour, the suicide in March 2013 of a 15-year-old high school student in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, surnamed Choi, can be seen as the ‘explosion’ which ripped into the halls of political power. Choi’s bully-suicide, said to be the 14th bullying-related death in the Daegu region since Seung-min’s suicide, sparked widespread public concern and prompted President Park Geun-hye to order emergency measures to try and quickly extinguish the flames of school violence. Like Seung-min and others, prior to jumping from the 23rd floor of his apartment building he wrote a two-page suicide note that listed the names of five classmates who had repeatedly bullied him since 2011.

The Initial Spark: A Contemporary History of School Violence

This is the first part of Seung-min’s suicide letter, the contents of which detailed the acts of bullying he was subjected to prior to his death in Daegu on December 20, 2011. This letter is important for understanding contemporary school violence in South Korea as Seung-min’s bully-suicide case can be understood as the ‘initial spark’ that ignited this current wave of attention directed toward violent students and their victims.

The Fire: Bullying and Violence by Adults at Work

The ‘fire’ metaphor used for the title of this chapter can be understood as the way fire ‘spreads’ to other areas, and so here I move beyond the realms of history, violence in schools, and consumer culture to show how bullying and violence ‘engulfs’ all parts of South Korean society (i.e., it exists throughout the social structure and social relations because it is embedded within culture). In a general way, I follow a ‘developmental life-cycle’ approach, beginning with abuse of young children at day-care centres by violent (female) day-care workers, then move on to bullying, violent, abusive, and corrupt conduct by teachers and professors. Violence in the military is then analysed before turning attention to bullying in the workplace and certain bullying tactics employed by South Korea’s most powerful companies. The chapter ends with cases of vulnerable and ‘weak’ employees being exploited, which include the disabled and elderly security guards.

The Aftermath-Damage: Developmental Trajectory of Perpetrators of School Violence

K-pop boy-band ‘B.A.P’ (‘Best Absolute Perfect’) released a song in 2013 called ‘BADMAN’ as a way to show off their tough, bad boy concept.

The Fuel: Consumer Culture, Exclusion, Ethics, and Idols

I asked some juniors to drink so we drank in the playground near my house. I told them ‘don’t throw up or I will kill you,’ but one of the juniors threw up on my clothes. I got angry and punched him. Now I am thinking of it I am very sorry and have pity for them. I want to say to the victims that everything is my fault and I am sorry and it was inappropriate behaviour as their older brother.