An Overview of the Influence of Western Individualization on Contemporary Youth in China;

In the early 1980s, with the reform and opening-up, personalized thoughts were introduced into China from the west. This trend of thought has influenced generations of young people in China from the aspects of thinking mode, value orientation and lifestyle. This paper studies the performance of this trend of thought, discusses the reasons why it affects the contemporary youth in China, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures for its positive and negative effects. Key words:

Personalization; Contemporary youth; affect

Since the Renaissance, western society has been pursuing the freedom of human nature and the liberation of individuality, and western culture has shown strong characteristics of individual standard, emphasizing individual achievements and uniqueness, which constitute the foundation of western social individuality. Existentialism, which arose in Germany in the 1920s, emphasized the development of human personality. In 1980s, with the opening of China, this personalized trend of thought flooded into China, which had a far-reaching impact on the youth in 1980s. After more than 20 years, this trend of thought has not disappeared with the changes of the times, but continues to influence a new generation of young people who have grown up in today's reform and opening up environment in various forms.

First, the main manifestations of the influence of western personalized thought on contemporary youth in China.

The influence of 1. on the thinking mode of contemporary youth in China

China's traditional way of thinking pays attention to the whole, is good at analyzing and grasping problems from a macro perspective, and stresses the harmony and perfection of the whole. "Take care of the overall situation" and "worry about the world first, and enjoy the world later" are the concrete manifestations of this way of thinking. After being baptized by the trend of individualization, contemporary youth often think from the perspective of self. "I" gradually replaces "we", and the micro-thinking mode with individual as the starting point replaces the macro-thinking mode with overall situation as the starting point. At the same time, with the development of teenagers' personality, teenagers are no longer satisfied with the knowledge level of "knowing what", but deeply explore the thinking level of individuals "knowing why" and pay attention to self-analysis and problem solving, so as to find the way of self-knowledge and self-development. With the improvement of young people's thinking level, their thinking forms become more open. The openness of young people's thinking is mainly reflected in their courage to break through the limitations of traditional thinking structure, traditional closed thinking, and to extend or synthesize existing knowledge and models, that is, contemporary young people no longer blindly follow and blindly believe in the words of one family, do not follow the rules, do not stand still, and like to put forward their own unique opinions while opposing the old authority. They can often break away from convention, be unique and solve problems creatively.

2. Influence on the value orientation of contemporary youth in China.

Individual freedom and development has become the main goal of contemporary youth life. "I am me" has become the life logic of this generation of young people. In recent years, China Youth Research Center has conducted many sampling surveys, which show that "doing what you like, regardless of others' evaluation" has become a universal value choice for contemporary youth. This shows that the behavior choice of contemporary youth is increasingly personalized, and compared with the early 1980 s, the value orientation of youth has changed greatly. They tend to pay too much attention to the development of personality, tend to separate the relationship between individuals and society, ignore the dependence of individuals on society, and ignore the laws of social development and the restrictive role of social coordination on individuals. Too much belief that "the value of a person lies in the individual" only emphasizes the respect and satisfaction of the society for the individual, while ignoring the responsibility that the individual should perform in society, lacking the sense of social responsibility and mission. Contemporary youth who take themselves as their starting point and destination ignore the needs of social and collective development, making individuals above the collective and society, and the values of collective standard gradually give way to those of individual standard. When personal development conflicts with social and collective development, it is impossible to adjust one's own development in time according to the principle of collectivism, which makes personal development divorced from collective and social development. In the long run, this change of value orientation of contemporary youth is harmful to the growth of the younger generation.

3. Influence on the lifestyle of contemporary youth in China.

The pursuit of individuality has become a prominent feature of contemporary youth, which embodies the publicity of youth's individuality from food, clothing, housing and transportation to interpersonal communication and love and marriage. In daily consumption, contemporary youth pay more attention to personal judgment and preference, and generally pursue novel, fashionable and personalized goods. In dress, we should pay special attention to self-image in order to show ourselves. Including the phenomenon that "super girl" is popular in the north and south of the country, it seems to be a satisfaction for young people to publicize their individuality. Of course, we have also seen many incomprehensible "alternative phenomena". Some unconventional personal images actually reflect the helplessness and immaturity of some young people in the face of the impact of individualized thoughts. They are at a loss in the trend of pursuing individuality. Only by choosing these so-called "coolness" as the breakthrough of their own personality performance can they win the attention of others. In interpersonal communication, they show the characteristics of openness and closeness. They are eager to communicate with others and to be recognized by others. However, the publicity of individuality often conflicts with the constraints of the collective. Under the restriction of the collective, young people tend to close themselves, which makes the formal collective organization loose and the relationship between members alienated, while informal organizations composed of like-minded members become more and more important in youth interpersonal communication. In the behavior of marriage and love, contemporary youth are becoming more and more open, and there are more and more phenomena of cohabitation and trial marriage before marriage.

Second, the main reason for the aftereffects of western personalized thought

1. Youth's own physiological and psychological characteristics

Youth, as an important stage of life, is at the peak of all-round physical and psychological development and growth. In youth, human brain development is basically completed, and the brain weight and nervous system structure are mature, which provides a physiological basis for the development of teenagers' thinking ability. With the physiological changes, the psychological characteristics of teenagers have been further developed. The development of young people's bodies urges them to germinate a strong sense of self and produce a strong sense of adulthood. Young people are often keen to discover themselves, understand themselves and realize their value. They are eager to prove themselves to others through their own efforts, showing strong self-esteem, self-confidence and enterprise. The personality development advocated by western individualization caters to the needs of young people's self-awareness, so it is easy to be accepted and absorbed by young people.

2. The radiation effect of youth in 1980s on contemporary youth.

After the reform and opening up, in the state of denying the ultra-left trend of thought and opposing the ideological imprisonment, the young people in the 1980s tried their best to breathe in the fresh air brought by the western trend of thought, and began to think about people's fate, people's position in society and the publicity of human nature. The great discussion about Pan Xiao's life in 1980s urged young people to pay attention to the development of "self" and "personality". In the view of human and society, it advocates irrationality and individualism, belittles the rational role of human cognition, emphasizes irrational factors such as human desire, emotion and will, opposes the constraints of rationality and society on individuals, and emphasizes human personality, independence and freedom. This idea of personality liberation and freedom left a deep impression on the young people in the 1980s. After more than 20 years, these young people have become fathers and teachers, and their pursuit of personality development will consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly affect the development of the next generation. Contemporary youth may have learned and unconsciously accepted this personalized concept in contact with their parents, brothers and teachers, and used it to guide their lives.

3. The result of the infiltration of western culture

Western culture takes the individual as the standard, emphasizes the initiative and development of the individual, and thinks that everyone is not only an independent organism, but also exists as a single member of life and society with unique psychology. The pursuit of individuality in the west is manifested in the self-values of western culture, that is, realizing that the self is subjective, which enriches the individual's unique cognitive ability, thus giving priority to his hobbies, opinions, choices and creativity. With the further opening of China's economy and society, western culture has been pouring into China in various carriers. In addition to traditional newspapers, radio and television, audio-visual technology and communication technology have greatly enriched the material carrier of western culture. Especially in the era of rapid development of science and technology, the Internet and economic and social informatization have accelerated the time and space of its spread. Individualism can cross time, space, cities, regions and national boundaries through computer processing and network communication, directly affecting the lives of teenagers and changing their thinking and behavior patterns.

Third, correctly guide teenagers' personalized thoughts.

1. Respect the differences of youth personality and treat the development of youth personality objectively.

In the era of knowledge economy, the innovation of knowledge and technology has become the main theme of social development, and social development needs a large number of creative talents. Personality is often associated with creativity, and the publicity of personality is conducive to stimulating creative desire, so as to analyze and solve problems independently. In this sense, individuality is the soil of creativity, and people with individuality can easily become creative talents. The German thinker Leibniz once said that there are no two identical leaves in the world. Similarly, there are no two identical people in the world. First of all, we should recognize the differences and personalities of teenagers and respect their personality development, instead of completely suppressing their needs for personality development. Secondly, schools, families and society should create a relaxed environment for the development of teenagers' personality and create an atmosphere of democracy and equality; At the same time, according to the personality differences of teenagers, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude should try to adapt to everyone's physical and mental characteristics and cognitive styles, and promote the all-round development of teenagers' personality. Educators should take the individual differences of teenagers as the starting point, fully mobilize their enthusiasm and initiative, and maximize their creative potential.

2. Strengthen the education of youth's socialist values.

Socialist countries advocate the dialectical unity of individual value and social value. This kind of values is based on social standard and collective standard, and it needs to give full play to personal intelligence and pay attention to personal interests. This requires contemporary youth to deal with the relationship between individuals, collectives and society. Marxism holds that the essence of human beings lies in sociality. Without social groups, individuals cannot live alone. Only by determining the personal development direction according to social needs and personal specialties, taking the contribution to the whole society as the starting point and destination of developing individuality, and strengthening the sense of collectivism, can young people ensure the healthy development of individuality under the guidance of collectivism. Collectivism and personality development are dialectical unity. Without collectivism, there is no individual freedom and development. As an individual, only following the ethical principles of collectivism is the way for the individual to develop in an all-round way. Therefore, contemporary youth should take patriotism, socialism and collectivism as the value orientation, adhere to the values of collectivism and society, keep the development of personality consistent with social development in the relationship between individuals and society, and make individual thoughts and behaviors conform to the laws of historical development; When personality development is harmful to the whole society and runs counter to social development, we should consciously limit this wrong personality development and adjust it according to the principle of collectivism to meet the needs of society.

3. Guide teenagers to treat traditional culture and western culture correctly.

Individualized thinking has a profound influence on young people, which is related to both the East and the West.