Traditionalism and the Idea of Progress: A Case for Ideological Mobilization in Communist China

Abstract

Economic development is not a one-dimensional process whereby a country's productivity and Gross National Product increase, machines are substituted for men, and new products appear. Development is characterized by the creation of a new society. For economic development to come about, changes must occur in traditional man's perception of his social and physical environment and his relationship to it. This is essential if traditional man and his society are to break out of the stability and fatalism of poverty, escape from superstition and ignorance, and overcome the inertia of social custom and vested interest. The purpose of this article is to examine how ideological mobilization in Mao Tse-tung's China has functioned to undermine traditional impediments to economic development and instil the idea that progress is both possible and desirable.