◆ Li Youmei believes that the anxiety problems of young people can be guided by young people's learning, work and life expectations. As for how to improve, it is not enough to rely on the strength of individuals, but requires the full cooperation of the whole society, including the market, the government and society. (File photo)
【Living World】
All parties work together to guide people with good expectations
■ The so-called all roads lead to Rome, and we must open new channels through the joint efforts of the whole society, so that there are more choices in the country, so that young people can see these choices and prepare for them. With expectations and direction, people can act. When people take action, the vitality of society returns
Wen Wei Po: From the perspective of a sociologist, how do you view and think about the anxiety caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic? What kind of topics does it put forward for social governance and social construction?
Li Youmei: We usually talk about anxiety in the psychological sense of negative "anxiety", referring to people's sense of discomfort and unpleasant emotional state due to the unpredictability of the situation and goals when they are in a complex and uncertain situation. In the view of sociologists, anxiety is everywhere. Alain De Botton said in The Anxiety of Identity that "life is the process of replacing one anxiety with another, with one desire instead of another." But that doesn't mean we don't need to focus on anxiety.
After this epidemic, important changes have taken place in the environment at home and abroad, and human society has suddenly been in a new structure. It is not difficult to imagine that the current anxiety is not an isolated phenomenon of a group of people, and the generation and transmission of anxiety is often a social causal relationship. To channel the anxiety problems of young people, we can start from the guidance of young people's learning, work and life expectations, and have a reasonable expectation can generate motivation to change the status quo. As for how to improve, it is not enough to rely on the strength of individuals, but requires the full cooperation of the whole society, including the market, the government and society.
Wen Wei Po: So, how to guide young people to have good expectations?
Li Youmei: I think there are some practical ways to create more learning opportunities and employment opportunities for young people. Students are worried about further education and employment, the main reason is that at present, domestic enterprises have resumed work and production, and many enterprises have transformed and developed and upgraded their production energy levels, which means that job seekers must have corresponding high skills, which will inevitably lead to a relative decrease in the number of ordinary skill positions. The state is currently trying to find ways to expand employment opportunities through multiple channels, such as adding research assistant positions in universities and scientific research institutions.
The reform and innovation of vocational training schools must also keep up, not only to expand and upgrade, but also to have diversity, so that students have more learning options, which needs to be scientifically and effectively designed. In this system, an important role of vocational training schools is to provide job security for the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. Therefore, the education of vocational training schools should be docked with the new needs of future industrial development and industrial restructuring and upgrading, and vocational schools or new courses should be opened according to the skills needed for new needs, with the purpose of allowing students to establish career expectations and life expectations through the skills learning in school - that is, let them see the future employment possibilities first, and then make specific learning plans in a targeted manner. This is something that governments, markets and society can do together, especially for schools that develop manufacturing skills, which require a lot of input.
Wen Wei Po: This year's government work report proposes that more than 35 million people will be trained in vocational skills this year and next year, and higher vocational colleges and universities will expand enrollment by 2 million people, so that more workers will have long skills and good employment. In addition to the "stable policy," which is a phased "reassuring pill," what "stable" measures are needed?
Li Youmei: At the same time, it is necessary to establish a corresponding data platform to regularly release the latest data on high-skilled and high-quality vocational positions, and to connect with the upgrading and development of vocational training schools.
Affected by the epidemic, international exchanges have decreased, people's choices have been much less, and some of the original roads have been blocked. The so-called all roads lead to Rome, and we must open up new channels through the joint efforts of the whole society, so that there are more choices in the country, so that young people can see these choices and prepare for them. With expectations and direction, people can act. When people take action, the vitality of society returns.
Image source: Visual China
Communicating with young people is an art that must be learned
■ Social psychology is transmitted, especially the influence of social mentality between groups is very fast. Communication requires patient listening and sometimes consultation, which is the process of giving guidance. It is recommended to arrange a period of time before the formal class, as a period of psychological and psychological adjustment of students, in addition to explaining the protection, but also to help them solve the problems accumulated in their minds for nearly half a year
Wen Wei Po: Since the outbreak of the epidemic, students have stayed at home for half a year or even longer, will this affect the return of students to school and the entry of graduates into society?
Li Youmei: For such a long time, young people basically stay at home, in addition to their parents every day, that is, the Internet, because each family has a child, their attention distribution is arranged by themselves, including anxiety relief and even depression dispersion. The information on the Internet involves domestic and foreign countries, which is intricate and confusing, and the children's ability to distinguish between right and wrong is not yet mature, and many online information in the epidemic is difficult to distinguish between true and false. How can we better help these young people? I suggest that a period of time be arranged before the formal class, as a period of psychological and psychological counseling and adjustment for students, in addition to explaining the protection, but also to help them solve the problems accumulated in their minds for nearly half a year. Summer vacation is coming soon, how to make good use of the time before summer vacation to sort out the psychological mentality of students is particularly important. Especially for the group of graduates who are about to enter the society, some lectures should be designed for them so that they can have the correct way to understand society and help them establish positive expectations for their future professional life.
Wen Wei Po: Young people value being understood, so they need to communicate with them, how do you think about communication?
Li Youmei: Social psychology is transmitted, especially the influence of social mentality on groups is very fast. Communication requires patient listening and sometimes consultation, and I feel it's a process of guidance. Communicating ideas with young people is an art, and we all need to learn this artistic accomplishment. Sociological research often uses the concept of "living world". The "living world" is a stage for people to interact with each other in their daily lives, which provides people with a background knowledge, under which people can understand each other and form a consensus. At the same time, the consultation and communication between people has strengthened the community of "living world". In our society, the basic consensus of the "living world" exists, and in the process of social governance, how to further promote the construction of the "living world" through the communication mechanism of mutual listening, mutual respect and mutual tolerance is of great importance.
Wen Wei Po: There are 8.74 million college graduates this year, what advice do you have for the employment of young people?
Li Youmei: There is a career planning company in Japan, which specializes in designing personalized career planning for job seekers, and career planners themselves are a special profession, and they open corresponding exchange counseling courses according to each job seeker's existing experience, knowledge reserves and technical capabilities to help them choose a career path suitable for the future. We also need such specialized services to enable young people to form suitable career expectations. Our social construction is focused on people's livelihood, and the thinking in this regard must be opened up a little more. We can further work on the software construction of social governance, and the essence of social governance is to coordinate different value concepts.
Wen Wei Po: After the epidemic has passed, in addition to the excessive tension of the spirit, there is still a contrary situation, that is, slackness, how to deal with this social mentality?
Li Youmei: In reality, we can see that some of the previous community governance methods have been relaxed through the epidemic. Next, we still have to pursue a quality and tasteful life. Therefore, we need to attach importance to the establishment and improvement of a social governance community in which everyone has responsibilities, everyone fulfills their responsibilities, and everyone shares.
Wen Wei Po: How do we understand the role of the community in society?
Li Youmei: In the sociological perspective, "community" is an ancient topic. Sociologist Tennis pointed out that the "community" is an organic combination of life and a lasting common life. From the development of agrarian societies to industrial societies, especially post-industrial societies, the form of the community has undergone modern transmutation as social mobility has increased. From the perspective of modernization, the social unity maintained by stable common life, shared values, and common concepts is a traditional social community, while the contemporary social community is no longer a homogeneous and homomorphic organizational form, but a heterogeneous and functional, and the public issues and public interests proposed therefrom must rely on democratic consultation and responsibility sharing based on civilized rationality and public spirit to achieve acceptable common principles. There are many forms of communities in our lives, such as primary communities based on blood, geography and traditional karma, higher communities based on the same values, and new communities in the form of networks that span traditional class divisions. The community of modern society should form a good atmosphere of mutual tolerance and deliberative democracy based on the spirit of publicity, even if the views are different or even antagonistic, they can be slowly approached through communication and exchange, and the ultimate purpose is to clarify the problem.
Author: Liu Liyuan
Editor: Fan Jing