Aims and results of policies: Mao's domestic policies - social policies Notes

Aims of Mao’s Social Policies

1. Mao aimed to transform Chinese society by eliminating old traditions and promoting Communist values of equality, collectivism, and loyalty to the CCP.
2. Social policies were meant to restructure everyday life, especially in areas like family, gender roles, education, religion, and rural organisation.
3. Mao believed that changing people’s thinking and behaviour was just as important as economic development, and that society needed to be reshaped to create the ideal revolutionary citizen.
4. Social reform also served as a tool to undermine traditional elites, such as landlords, Confucian scholars, and religious leaders, who were seen as obstacles to the revolution.
5. Overall, Mao’s goal was not just reform, but cultural revolution, replacing old values with a new Communist social order.

Education Reform and Political Indoctrination

1. Education was expanded under Mao, especially in rural areas, with the goal of creating a literate and ideologically loyal population.
2. Traditional Confucian curriculum was replaced with Marxist-Leninist thought, and schooling emphasised political education over academic achievement.
3. During the Cultural Revolution, schools and universities were shut down or heavily disrupted. Red Guards targeted teachers and intellectuals, and formal education collapsed between 1966 and 1976.
4. In place of academic learning, students were sent to the countryside to learn from peasants, reinforcing Mao’s belief in practical over theoretical knowledge.
5. These policies created long-term gaps in skilled labour and higher education, but they strengthened Mao’s ideological control over youth.

Policies Toward Women and the Family

1. The 1950 Marriage Law banned arranged marriages, child marriage, and allowed divorce, promoting gender equality in legal terms.
2. Women gained rights to own land during early land reform and were encouraged to join the workforce, particularly in collective farms and later in factories.
3. In practice, gender inequality remained, especially in rural areas, where traditional views persisted and women still carried most domestic burdens.
4. The CCP promoted the image of the socialist woman as strong, hardworking, and politically aware. Propaganda posters often showed women in uniforms or factory gear.
5. Mao claimed “Women hold up half the sky,” but actual progress toward equality was limited, especially as political campaigns often sidelined women’s needs.

Religion and Cultural Control

1. Mao saw religion as a form of superstition and class oppression, incompatible with Communist ideology.
2. The CCP banned religious practice, closed churches and temples, and persecuted clergy. Religious leaders were targeted as counter-revolutionaries.
3. Campaigns promoted atheism and removed religion from education and public life. Traditional festivals were discouraged or banned.
4. During the Cultural Revolution, many cultural relics, religious sites, and historical texts were destroyed by Red Guards to wipe out the "Four Olds", which referred to old customs, habits, culture, and thinking.
5. These actions helped eliminate alternative sources of authority and made the party the centre of spiritual and cultural life in China.

Impact on Daily Life and Society

1. Mao’s social policies reshaped daily routines, especially in communes, where people worked, ate, and often lived collectively.
2. Traditional family roles were weakened, with loyalty to the party promoted above loyalty to parents or elders.
3. Mass campaigns like the “Learn from Lei Feng” movement encouraged ordinary people to model their behaviour on state-approved moral figures.
4. The constant cycle of political movements created a culture of surveillance, conformity, and fear, where even private thoughts could be political risks.
5. While Mao succeeded in transforming many aspects of Chinese society, the results were often unstable, uneven, and based more on ideology than practical needs.