It is well documented that parents in China and other East Asian countries invest major resources into their children’s education, including extracurricular classes. The strong educational desire (Kipnis 2011) that these investments are an expression of has led to parents and children alike being under enormous pressure to ensure the child’s academic achievements. As a result, concerns about mental health, and financial and time constrains have grown stronger. In light of this, the Chinese government implemented the Double Reduction Policy (双减政策) in 2021 to reduce both the burden of homework and to regulate the extracurricular education sector, effectively curbing the supply of educational services and activities, but not addressing the demand for such activities, or the educational desire itself. There is a burgeoning literature investigating the implications of this policy. This research project aims at contributing to existing literature by conducting a netnography of how parents react to, negotiate, and possibly resist this policy.

Qualifications

• Background in the social sciences
• Netnography skills
• Chinese language skills

What does the internship involve?

• Literature review of existing literature on the Double Reduction Policy
• Netnography of how parents respond to the policy
• Coding and analysing data
• Presenting result in the research seminar FAMIW

When?

20 weeks, autumn semester of 2024 (10 weeks can also be an option, after discussion)

Where?

The Department of Sociology at Lund University.

How to apply

Send a letter of introduction (max an A4 page), your CV and degree certificates to lisa [dot] eklund [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se Your letter of introduction should describe who you are, your goals for the internship, and what you hope to gain from the internship.

Last application date

• 15 April 2024

Contact information

Person responsible for the research project: lisa [dot] eklund [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se (lisa[dot]eklund[at]soc[dot]lu[dot]se)

If you have general questions about internships at the Department of Sociology, you are welcome to contact Britt-Marie Johansson, britt-marie [dot] johansson [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se (britt-marie[dot]johansson[at]soc[dot]lu[dot]se).