Paper short abstract:

"Bargaining for certainty" discusses China's psy- training frenzy, part of what anthropologists have called the "psycho-boom," in relation the many uncertainties that characterize social life.

Paper long abstract:

In 2017, a WeChat account for psychology enthusiasts posted a series of comics poking fun at the grumbles of therapists in China, taking the format of a call-and-response. Therapy is too expensive for most people; it is difficult to build a caseload; if you do have clients, they don't keep their appointments; and the reality of being or aspiring to be a therapist consists of taking classes and doing trainings non-stop. The jokes made in this series raise a serious question concerning why a person would invest in constant learning and training, particularly when it is not clear, nor certain, whether the investment will "pay off" given the huge gap between the cost of therapy on the one hand, and the financial ability of ordinary people, i.e. potential clients, on the other. This presentation answers the question by discussing the popularity of training in and of itself, particularly the significance of "group experience," in the Chinese context, and it will delve into the biographical particulars of two in-depth case studies to understand why a person would "study" in their free time and bargain away life savings or hard-earned income. This presentation will argue that the localization of psychological thinking in China, otherwise known as "psycho-boom," must be understood in relation to the many uncertainties - practical, moral, and existential - that characterize social life, and to the strong drive to exert some degree of control over them.