'Muddling through': a cultural perspective on life in schools for China's deviant students

Abstract

This article summarizes the main findings and arguments of a doctoral research conducted in an urban city in the Southeast China. Through an eight-month ethnographic study, the author reveals the life of a group of deviant students in a secondary school and their ‘muddling’ subculture. It is argued that the subculture of these young people from lower-class family is a means to negotiate their space and power in a failing school system situated in a drastically transforming society full of diversified yet often conflicting values.