{"product_id":"transient-becoming","title":"Transient Becoming - Self-improvement and Capitalist Virtuousness in Contemporary China","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"fade-text\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"fade-text-wrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 128, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJust Published!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGil Hizi\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHow do individuals seek to become better persons in contemporary China? How do they navigate the complex demands of personal growth given the fragmentation of China's moral landscape? \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGil Hizi's careful ethnography on \"soft skills\" workshops in China examines the pursuit and enactment of virtue, termed \"capitalist virtuousness,\" through the expanding genre of self-improvement.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe book reveals how these workshops create heterotopian spaces that offer participants \"transient optimism and virtue realization\", in which individuals experientially exceed their social reality. They perform an idealized sense of self-worth and autonomy, even if these transformations remain short-lived and bounded. Through this volume, Hizi illuminates how self-improvement becomes a constant state of incompleteness, requiring self-validation, in the context of aspiration for a \"purified and moral image\" of global capitalism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith a deep appreciation of the moral turn, this book offers insights \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eto Chinese studies, affect studies, anthropology and sociology, by meticulously detailing the lived experiences of person-making amidst globalizing forces and the contradictions inherent in modern aspirations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“In Transient Becoming, Gil Hizi offers a penetrating and elegantly argued account of self-improvement culture in urban China. With conceptual precision and ethnographic sensitivity, he demonstrates how morality, affect, and personhood are reworked within market society. This book stands out for its refusal of theoretical simplification and for its sustained attention to lived moral dilemmas. It is a significant and timely intervention in debates on subjectivity, morality, and market modernity.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– Yunxiang Yan, University of California, Los Angeles\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGil Hizi\u003c\/strong\u003e is a sociocultural anthropologist working as a lecturer and researcher at University of Cologne.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Year: 2026\u003cbr\u003e184 pp, \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e229 x 152mm\u003cbr\u003ePaperback\u003cbr\u003eISBN: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e978-981-325-319-3\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"NUS Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44140624674882,"sku":"9789813253193","price":38.0,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0739\/9743\/files\/TransientBecoming_Frontcover_NUSP2026jpg.jpg?v=1784267052","url":"https:\/\/nuspress.nus.edu.sg\/products\/transient-becoming","provider":"NUS Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}