New Book by Zhiying Ma Examines Mental Health and Biopolitical Paternalism in Contemporary China
By Crown Family School
Zhiying Ma, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, explores the intersection of family, psychiatry, and state governance in her new book, Between Families and Institutions: Mental Health and Biopolitical Paternalism in Contemporary China.
In contemporary China, individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses have traditionally been placed under the guardianship of close relatives, who decide on hospitalization and treatment. While reforms have aimed to secure patient rights, the 2013 Mental Health Law reinforced families’ rights and responsibilities.
Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in psychiatric hospitals, community mental health teams, social work centers, and family support groups—as well as interviews with policymakers and activists—Ma traces how ideological, institutional, and technological processes shape family involvement in psychiatric care. She introduces the concept of “biopolitical paternalism,” a mode of governance that frames vulnerable individuals as sources of risk, justifies paternalistic intervention by the state, and shifts responsibility for care and management onto families.
The book highlights the ethical tensions, intimate vulnerabilities, and health disparities that arise under this system, revealing how biopower both enables and constrains psychiatric care. By analyzing these dynamics, Ma provides critical insights into the politics of mental health care in China and its broader implications for global health and medical anthropology.
Between Families and Institutions is published under the Asian Studies, Global Health, and Medical Anthropology categories.
