Governing the entrepreneurial self: state discourse and the shaping of return rural entrepreneurs in China

Abstract

In the context of the national Rural Revitalization Strategy, China has witnessed a significant trend of Return Rural Entrepreneurship (RRE). This paper examines the role of the state in motivating this phenomenon, moving beyond conventional analyses of economic incentives. Drawing on a post-Foucauldian framework of governmentality, I argue that the Chinese state employs a unique form of “moral governmentality” to encourage RRE. This strategy operates not through coercion but through soft power, blending policy support with potent discursive appeals to deeply ingrained cultural values such as filial piety, communal duty, and patriotism. Based on seven months of ethnographic fieldwork in Zhejiang Province, including 106 interviews with return rural entrepreneurs (RRErs) and local officials, this study analyses how the state actively shapes entrepreneurial subjectivities by framing Return Rural Entrepreneurship as both a viable economic opportunity and a virtuous, patriotic act. The findings reveal that while many RRErs internalize these state-driven narratives, their response is not one of passive acceptance. It exhibits a complex agency, engaging in critical reflection, negotiation, and subtle resistance when official rhetoric collides with the practical realities of entrepreneurship. This paper contributes to the literature by extending governmentality theory to a non-Western context, illuminating the interplay of state power, cultural discourse, and individual agency in the co-constitution of entrepreneurial subjects within state-led development projects.

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ORCID for Tongming Wang: orcid.org/0000-0002-5183-7332

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