Multidimensional Reflections on the Orientation of Ideological and Political Education toward Individual Needs in the New Era

Need is “a state of intake generated by an organism’s necessity to exchange matter, energy, and information with the external world in order to maintain normal functioning (survival, development).” As a concrete manifestation of human need, individual need refers to the psychological desires and dependency relations toward the subjective and objective worlds that arise in the process of a single individual’s survival and development. Compared with human need, individual need exhibits characteristics such as concreteness and difference; compared with social need, individual need also possesses plurality and dispersion. As a product of social history, individual need is a constantly developing dynamic system. With the improvement of individuals’ material conditions and the elevation of their cognitive levels, individual need becomes increasingly rich and complete, gradually developing from lower to higher levels. In the New Era, individual need displays a series of new features: on the one hand, under the acceleration of the individuation process, the complexity of individual need intensifies; amid the interweaving of multiple ideological currents, the heterogeneity of individual need becomes prominent; with the high development of virtual networks, the normativity of individual need weakens. On the other hand, the need for free individual development and the need for spiritual enjoyment move forward in the internal sequence of the individual need system; individuals’ longing for a better life becomes extremely strong; the internal impetus for individual need to converge toward social need is somewhat strengthened. Unlike individual need in general practical activities, individual need in ideological and political education places greater emphasis on the logic of ideology, focusing at the content level on spiritual need. In concrete practice, ideological and political education adjusts the supply of elements based on the identification of individual need, intervenes in and regulates individual thought by standardizing and guiding individual spiritual need, and promotes the transformation of the “natural individual” into a “socialized individual,” thereby realizing the free and comprehensive development of the human being on the basis of perfecting and developing individual need. Therefore, ideological and political education is not an external thing unrelated to individual need. Reflecting on the connotation, rationale, and practical orientation of ideological and political education toward individual need in the New Era is conducive both to enhancing the effectiveness of education and to clarifying the people-centered [1]1 people-centered: A guiding principle of the CPC, emphasizing that development should be oriented toward the well-being and interests of the people. principle and policy of ideological and political work in the New Era.

需要是“有机体为了维持正常运转（生存、发展）必须与外部世界进行物质、能量、信息交换而产生的一种摄取状态。”作为人的需要的具体表现形态，个体需要即单个个体在生存与发展过程中所产生的，对主观世界与客观世界的心理欲求和依赖关系。相较于人的需要，个体需要呈现出具体性、差异性等特征；相较于社会需要，个体需要又具备多元性、离散性。作为社会历史的产物，个体需要是一个不断发展的动态体系。伴随个体物质条件的改善及认知水平的提高，个体需要愈加丰富完善，并逐渐由低层次向高层次发展。新时代，个体需要显现出系列新表征：一方面，个体化进程加速下，个体需要复杂性加剧，多元思潮交织下个体需要异质性凸显，虚拟网络高度发展下个体需要规范性弱化；另一方面，自由个性发展的需要与精神享受需要在个体需要体系内部的序列前移，个体对于美好生活之向往无比强烈，个体需要趋向社会需要之内在动力有所强化。不同于一般的实践活动中的个体需要，思想政治教育中的个体需要更注重意识形态逻辑，在内容层面聚焦于精神需要。思想政治教育在具体实践中以对个体需要的识别调整要素供给，通过规范并引导个体精神需要对个体思想进行干预和调节，促使“自然个人”成为“社会化的个人”，在完善和发展个体需要的基础上实现人的自由全面发展。因此，思想政治教育不是与个体需要无关的身外之物，审思新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要的内涵、缘由及实践指向，既有利于提升育人实效，又有利于明确新时代思想政治工作以人民为中心的方针原则。

I. Interpretation of the Connotation of Ideological and Political Education Oriented toward Individual Need in the New Era

一、新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要的内涵解读

To explore the cutting-edge topic of ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era, the logical starting point is to clarify its scientific connotation. Being oriented toward individual need is the implementation and development of Marxist human theory in the field of ideological and political education. It highlights the individual dimension of the human being, deepens thinking on the relationship between ideological and political education and individual need, and presents rich implications from three dimensions: goal, content, and method.

探讨新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要这一前沿性课题，逻辑起点是厘清其科学内涵。面向个体需要是马克思主义人学理论在思想政治教育领域的贯彻和发展，凸显了人的个体向度，深化了对思想政治教育与个体需要之间关系的思考，从目标、内容、方法3个维度呈现出丰富意涵。

1. The Dimension of Goal: Taking the Realization of the Free and Comprehensive Development of Every Individual as the Value Purpose

1.目标之维：以实现每个人自由全面发展为价值旨归

Ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era has a clear goal orientation, taking the realization of the free and comprehensive development of every individual as its purpose. Based on his exposure and reflection on the alienated state of human development in the era in which he lived, Marx proposed the fundamental goal of realizing the free and comprehensive development of the human being. However, the free and comprehensive development of the human being is not an abstract concept. The future society envisioned by Marx is “a social form in which the free and comprehensive development of every individual is the basic principle.” [2]2 This is a paraphrase of Marx’s formulation in *Capital*, Volume 1, where he describes the future society as “an association of free individuals” and a “higher form of society” whose fundamental principle is the full and free development of every individual. Therefore, once the free and comprehensive development of every individual as a person is neglected, the foundation of the free and comprehensive development of the human being is lost. In the New Era, ideological and political education oriented toward individual need aims to promote the free and comprehensive development of the individual, thereby realizing the free and comprehensive development of the human being. On the one hand, being oriented toward individual need is grounded in the real individual, stipulating respect for individual need and the provision of personalized supply based on individuals’ differentiated needs, and is committed to developing the individual’s free individuality. Marx, when calling for the free and comprehensive development of the human being, attached great importance to the development of the individual’s free individuality, regarding it as a necessary condition for the free and comprehensive development of the human being. Ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era aims to carefully nurture each person’s unique individuality, respect and satisfy the individual’s need to develop free individuality, meticulously analyze the differences and stages of individual need, tailor measures to different individuals and to the same individual’s needs at different stages, guide individuals to choose forms of development suitable for themselves, shape a positive and healthy free individuality, and thereby gradually realize the free and comprehensive development of every individual on the basis of developing the individual’s free individuality.

新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要具备明确的目标指向，以实现每个人自由全面发展为旨归。马克思基于对所处时代人的发展的异化现状的揭露与反思，提出了实现人的自由全面发展的根本目标。然而，人的自由全面发展不是一个抽象的观念，马克思设想的未来社会是“以每一个个人的全面而自由的发展为基本原则的社会形式”。因此，一旦忽视每一个作为个体的个人的自由全面发展，就会丧失人的自由全面发展的基础。新时代，思想政治教育面向个体需要旨在促进个体自由全面发展，进而实现人的自由全面发展。一方面，面向个体需要立足于现实的个人，规定尊重个体需要并依据个体差异化需要予以个性化供给，致力于发展个体自由个性。马克思在呼吁人的自由全面发展时给予人的自由个性发展以高度重视，将其视为人的自由全面发展的必要条件。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要意在精心呵护每个人的独特个性，尊重并满足个体发展自由个性的需要，细致分析个体需要的差异性及阶段性，针对不同个体以及同一个体在不同阶段的需要量体裁衣，引导个体选择适合自身的发展形式，塑造积极健康的自由个性，从而在发展个体自由个性的基础上逐步实现每个人的自由全面发展。

On the other hand, being oriented toward individual need is also committed to promoting the comprehensive and coordinated development of individual need. From the perspective of human theory, human development is closely related to need. Human development is realized in social practice, but all human practical activities are carried out under the domination of need; therefore, human development cannot be separated from the drive of need. “If a person is to enjoy in many ways, he must have the capacity to enjoy.” [3]3 This is a paraphrase of a passage from Marx’s *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844*, where he discusses the development of human senses and capacities as part of the process of human self-realization. Every renewal of need promotes the improvement of human practical ability. With the enrichment and perfection of human need, human practical activities become more free and conscious, and people’s ability to satisfy need increasingly improves, thereby gradually appropriating their own comprehensive essence. It can be said that the satisfaction and development of need is an important basis for the free and comprehensive development of the human being; the degree of satisfaction of need marks the degree of human development; the higher the level of need and the richer its content, the more people tend toward freedom and comprehensiveness. Ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era aims to assist in the satisfaction and development of individual need, truly implementing the free and comprehensive development of every individual. Specifically, ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era emphasizes satisfying individual need, especially the need for individual spiritual development, requires continuously raising the degree of satisfaction of individual need, enriching the content of individual need, and pays attention to the positive guidance of individual need, promoting the coordinated development of individual material need and spiritual need, continuously optimizing the structure of individual need, and elevating the level of individual need. In the satisfaction and guidance of individual need, ideological and political education can gradually deepen individuals’ cognition of need, enrich the knowledge and skills individuals use to satisfy need, and impel individuals to move toward freedom and comprehensiveness in the satisfaction and development of need.

另一方面，面向个体需要还致力于促进个体需要全面协调发展。从人学视角看，人的发展与需要密切相关。人的发展在社会实践中实现，但人的一切实践活动都是在需要的支配下展开的，因而人的发展离不开需要的驱动。一个人“要多方面享受，他就必须有享受的能力”，需要的每一次更新都推动了人类实践能力的提升。伴随人的需要的丰富和完善，人类实践活动更加趋于自由自觉，人们用以满足需要的能力日益提高，从而逐渐占有自己全面的本质。可以说，需要的满足与发展是人的自由全面发展的重要依据，需要的满足程度标志了人的发展程度，需要的层次越高、内容越丰富，意味着人越来越趋向于自由和全面。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要旨在助力个体需要的满足和发展，将每个人的自由全面发展真正落到实处。具言之，新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要重视满足个体需要，特别是个体精神发展的需要，要求不断提升个体需要的满足程度，丰富个体需要内容，并注重对个体需要的积极引导，促进个体物质需要与精神需要协调发展，不断优化个体需要结构、提升个体需要层次。在对个体需要的满足与引导中，思想政治教育能够逐步深化个体对于需要的认知，丰富个体满足需要的知识技能，促使个体在需要的满足和发展中趋向自由全面。

2. The Dimension of Content: Taking the Satisfaction and Guidance of Individual Spiritual Need as the Theme and Main Line

2.内容之维：以满足并引导个体精神需要为主题主线

Ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era not only indicates the value pursuit of ideological and political education at the goal level but also highlights the core theme of satisfying and guiding individual spiritual need at the content level. The real human being is the practical object of ideological and political education, but this practical activity does not act on all aspects of the human being; rather, it mainly acts on the human spiritual world, which determines that the orientation of ideological and political education toward individual need focuses on the spiritual level. This is manifested in the fact that, in the process of the production, dissemination, and re-creation of spiritual materials, ideological and political education can satisfy and guide individual spiritual need. On the one hand, being oriented toward individual need calls for ideological and political education in the New Era to manifest humanistic care and emphasize the satisfaction of individual spiritual need. Helping people clear away the misunderstandings of erroneous thought, satisfying people’s spiritual need, and guiding people to establish a correct worldview, outlook on life, and value system are the practical purposes of ideological and political education. Ideological and political education oriented toward individual need in the New Era requires that ideological and political education, while satisfying social need, strive to satisfy individuals’ reasonable need, especially individuals’ rich spiritual need. Specifically, ideological and political education satisfies individuals’ need for spiritual belonging by disseminating core socialist values [4]4 core socialist values: The official set of values promoted by the CPC, consisting of prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, the rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendship. to individuals and strengthening patriotic education for individuals; satisfies individuals’ need for spiritual development by transmitting certain political culture and moral culture to individuals, enriching individuals’ knowledge reserves, and elevating individuals’ moral realm; satisfies individuals’ need for spiritual freedom by personalized ideological exchange and spiritual interaction, developing individuals’ free individuality; and satisfies individuals’ need for spiritual enjoyment by constructing individuals’ spiritual world and enhancing individuals’ sense of gain and happiness.

新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要既在目标层面指明了思想政治教育的价值追求，也在内容层面突出了满足并引导个体精神需要这一核心主题。现实的人是思想政治教育的实践对象，但这项实践活动并非作用于人的全部方面，而主要作用于人的精神世界，这决定了思想政治教育对个体需要的面向聚焦在精神层面。这表现为，在精神资料的生产、传播与再创的过程中，思想政治教育能够满足并引导个体精神需要。一方面，面向个体需要呼吁新时代思想政治教育彰显人文关怀，注重个体精神需要的满足。帮助人们廓清错误思想的误区，满足人的精神需要，引导人们树立正确的世界观、人生观和价值观是思想政治教育的实践旨趣。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要，就是要求思想政治教育在满足社会需要的同时努力满足个体合理需要，尤其是个体丰富的精神需要。具体而言，思想政治教育通过向个人传播社会主义核心价值观，强化对个体的爱国主义教育以满足个体精神归属的需要；通过向个人传递一定的政治文化和道德文化，丰富个体知识储备，提升个体道德境界，从而满足个体精神发展的需要；通过个性化的思想交流和精神互动，发展个体自由个性以满足个体精神自由的需要；通过建构个体精神世界，增强个体获得感和幸福感，满足个体精神享受的需要。

On the other hand, guiding individual spiritual needs is another core content of the orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs in the New Era. Being oriented toward individual needs does not mean catering to individual needs or promoting individualism; the orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs inherently contains the screening and regulation of individual needs, requiring that individual needs be guided to develop in a direction that conforms to social needs, thereby achieving the socialization of individual needs and the individualization of social needs. There is no individual outside society; the social attributes of human beings determine the social stipulation of individual needs, and individual needs and social needs are highly unified. However, individual needs are both diverse and complex, and the contradiction between them and social needs exists objectively. In ideological and political education, this is mostly a conflict at the ideological level, reflected in the inconsistency between individual spiritual needs and social spiritual needs in terms of content orientation or level of development. The root cause lies in the fact that not every individual is aware of and identifies with social needs. Resolving the contradiction between the two first requires intervention in individual thought, reconciling ideological conflicts of different natures among individuals, and integrating individual will into the level of national will. The orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs in the New Era takes guiding individual spiritual needs as an important content, aiming to conduct in-depth and meticulous ideological guidance and moral cultivation of individuals, prompting individuals to consciously incorporate social needs into their own need system, and finely handling the contradiction between individual needs and social needs at the ideological level.

另一方面，引导个体精神需要是新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要的又一核心内容。面向个体需要不是迎合个体需要或推崇个人主义，思想政治教育面向个体需要内蕴了对个体需要的甄别和规范，要求引导个体需要朝着符合社会需要的方向发展，实现个体需要社会化与社会需要个体化。社会之外无所谓个人，人的社会属性决定了个体需要的社会规定性，个体需要与社会需要高度统一。然而，个体需要既多元又复杂，其与社会需要之间的矛盾是客观存在的，这在思想政治教育中大多是思想层面的冲突，反映为个体精神需要与社会精神需要在内容指向或发展水平等方面的不一致。究其根源，在于并非每个个体都意识到了且认同社会需要，解决二者之间的矛盾首先要求对个体思想进行干预，调和个体间不同性质的思想冲突，将个人意志统合到国家意志层面。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要以引导个体精神需要为重要内容，意在对个体进行深入细致的思想引领和道德教化，促使个体自觉将社会需要纳入自身需要体系，在思想层面精细地处理个体需要与社会需要之间的矛盾。

3. The Dimension of Method: Taking “Real Individuals” and Their Needs as the Practical Starting Point

3.方法之维：以“现实的个人”及其需要为实践起点

Precise entry at the methodological level is an important implication of the orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs in the New Era, that is, taking “real individuals” and their needs as the practical starting point of ideological and political education. On the one hand, being oriented toward individual needs means advancing the object of ideological and political education from generalized species-being to vivid individual existence, from abstract human beings to “real individuals.” In the past, various discourses on the object of “human beings” in the field of ideological and political education mostly emphasized the plural nature of human beings, that is, human beings as a “species” or group, while individuals rarely entered the field of vision, which caused ideological and political education to easily overlook individual differences among objects in practice. However, as a group existence and species-being, human beings are first and foremost individual existences in their natural form. Marx and Engels, based on the method of pure empirical observation, confirmed that “the first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals.” [5]5 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *The German Ideology* (1845-46). The so-called “living individuals” are neither Hegel’s “self-conscious” human beings nor Feuerbach’s “abstract human beings,” but “real individuals” situated in specific social relations and engaged in practical activities. Therefore, “whether facing an individual or a group, the real object of the ideological and political educator should be the individual, the concrete, real, sensuous and rational individual who is active.” [6]6 This is a quotation from a Chinese scholar, likely from the field of ideological and political education theory, emphasizing the concrete individual as the object of education. The orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs in the New Era intends to respect the individual dimension of human beings, requiring ideological and political education to start from vivid, concrete individuals, deepen from the level of human species-being to the level of social individuals, place the object under the examination of specific social relations and historical stages, and grasp the actual state of individual thought meticulously.

方法层面的精准切入是新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要的重要蕴含，即以“现实的个人”及其需要为思想政治教育实践起点。一方面，面向个体需要意指将思想政治教育对象从泛化的类存在向鲜活的个体存在推进，从抽象的人走向“现实的个人”。以往思想政治教育领域关于“人”这一对象的各种论说大多强调人的复数性质，即作为“类”或群体的人，个人却鲜少进入视野，这致使思想政治教育在实践中容易忽视对象的个体差异。然而，作为群体存在物与类存在物的人，其在自然形态上最先是个体存在物，马克思、恩格斯基于纯粹经验的方法确认了，“全部人类历史的第一个前提无疑是有生命的个人的存在。”所谓“有生命的个人”既不同于黑格尔的“自我意识”的人，也不同于费尔巴哈的“抽象的人”，而是处在特定社会关系中并从事实践活动的“现实的个人”。因此，思想政治教育者“无论面对个人还是面对群体，真实的对象应当是个人，是具体的、现实的、感性与理性结合并活动着的个人。”新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要意在尊重人的个体向度，要求思想政治教育从鲜活的具体个人出发，由人的类主体层面深化到社会个体的层次，将对象置于具体的社会关系和历史阶段下考察，细致入微地把握个体思想实况。

On the other hand, being oriented toward individual needs inherently contains a deep reflection on human nature, indicating that ideological and political education does not proceed from any arbitrary aspect of the individual, but from the individual’s needs. Essentially, ideological and political education is a practical activity that actively constructs the spiritual world of human beings. The value logic of this activity’s existence is to realize the transformation from “the weapon of critique” to “the critique of weapons,” that is, to grasp the masses through theoretical indoctrination, and then transform theory into a real material force. But theory can only convince people and grasp them when it is thorough; “to be thorough is to grasp the root of the matter.” [7]7 Karl Marx, *A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction* (1843-44). Further, ideological and political education can only achieve widespread mobilization of the masses by grasping the root of human beings. Marxism holds that real human beings are driven by needs, “their needs are their nature,” [8]8 This is a paraphrase of a concept from Marx and Engels, often cited in Chinese Marxist discourse as “their needs are their nature,” derived from *The German Ideology*. and needs are the real root of people’s social practice and the formation of certain social relations. Therefore, only by grasping human needs can one grasp the root of human beings; only by grasping human needs can ideological and political education convince people with reason. But human needs are concrete and specific; the needs of the objects of ideological and political education have hierarchy and diversity. Blindly remaining at the general needs at the overall level makes it difficult to achieve a fit between supply and demand, nor can it truly grasp the root of human beings. The orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs in the New Era is to grasp the root of human beings, precisely entering from concrete individuals and their needs. This includes not only paying attention to individual material needs, but also comprehensively and dynamically grasping individual spiritual needs, especially individual belief needs, moral needs, and cognitive needs, and taking the individual’s first-order needs as the key entry point to carry out ideological and political education with a clear target.

另一方面，面向个体需要内蕴了对人的本性的深入思考，指明思想政治教育不是从个体的任意方面出发，而是从个体的需要出发。本质地看，思想政治教育是一种对人的精神世界进行积极建构的实践活动，这一活动存在的价值逻辑是实现由“批判的武器”向“武器的批判”的转化，即通过理论灌输掌握群众，进而将理论转化为现实的物质力量。但理论只有彻底才能说服人、掌握人，“所谓彻底，就是抓住事物的根本。”进言之，思想政治教育只有抓住人的根本才能实现对社会大众的广泛动员。马克思主义认为，现实的人为需要所驱使，“他们的需要即他们的本性”，需要是人们进行社会实践并形成一定社会关系的现实根源。因此，只有抓住人的需要才能抓住人的根本，思想政治教育只有抓住人的需要才能以理服人。但人的需要是具体而特殊的，思想政治教育对象的需要具有层次性和差异性，一味停留在总体层面的普遍需要难以实现供需契合，也不能真正抓住人的根本。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要就是要抓住人的根本，从具体个人及其需要精准切入，这既包括关注个体物质需要，还包括全面动态地把握个体精神需要，尤其是个体的信仰需要、道德需要和认知需要，并以个体第一序列的需要为关键入口，有的放矢地开展思想政治教育。

II. Analysis of the Reasons for the Orientation of Ideological and Political Education toward Individual Needs in the New Era

二、新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要的缘由分析

The occurrence, development, and change of any social phenomenon have deep-seated reasons that can be explored. The orientation of ideological and political education toward individual needs in the New Era is the unity of regularity, timeliness, and specificity. It is not only a necessary demand for following the laws of the formation and development of people’s ideological and moral character, but also a practical demand for getting rid of the dilemma of individualization in ideological and political education, and moreover, an inevitable requirement for promoting the high-quality development of ideological and political education.

任何社会现象的发生、发展、变化都具有可供探寻的深层缘由。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要是规律性、时代性与针对性的统一，既是遵循人的思想品德形成发展规律的应然需求，也是摆脱思想政治教育个体化困境的实然诉求，更是推动思想政治教育高质量发展的必然要求。

1. The Necessary Demand for Following the Laws of the Formation and Development of People’s Ideological and Moral Character

1.遵循人的思想品德形成发展规律的应然需求

Ideological and political work is fundamentally about doing the work of people. Carrying out ideological and political education requires strictly following the laws of the formation and development of people’s ideological and moral character, effectively promoting the formation and development of people’s moral character. Generally speaking, the process of the formation and development of people’s ideological and moral character is a dialectical unity of external constraints and internal transformation. This process takes the individual’s social practice as the intermediary, triggered by external factors affecting the restriction mechanism and linking the movement of the individual’s internal ideological contradictions. According to the viewpoint of dialectical materialism, the formation and development of individual ideological and moral character is certainly inseparable from the influence of the external environment and education, but the limit of this influence ultimately depends on the degree of the subject’s own acceptance and internalization, that is, people’s ideological and moral character is essentially the product of the movement of the subject’s internal ideological contradictions. The movement of the subject’s internal ideological contradictions includes both the contradictions among the elements of the subject’s ideological and moral character structure and the contradictions between the subject’s current ideological and moral environment and the original state of ideological and moral character. It manifests both as the contradictory movement of the subject’s knowledge, emotion, intention, belief, and action elements in terms of development direction and development level, and as the contradictory movement between the subject’s reflection of certain social moral requirements and the original ideological and moral environment. Regardless of the type of contradictory movement, only when the subject consciously and autonomously accepts external influences, actively carries out internal ideological contradiction struggles, and continuously breaks through the original ideological and moral environment, can a new state of ideological and moral character be produced.

思想政治工作从根本上说是做人的工作，开展思想政治教育要求严格遵循人的思想品德形成发展的规律，有效促进人的品德的形成与发展。一般地看，人的思想品德形成与发展的过程是外部制约与内在转化辩证统一的过程，这一过程以个体的社会实践为中介，由外部因素触发影响制约机制并联动个体内在思想矛盾运动。根据辩证唯物主义的观点，个体思想品德的形成与发展固然离不开外部环境及教育的影响，但这种影响的作用限度归根到底取决于主体自身接受与内化的程度，即人的思想品德实质上是主体内在思想矛盾运动的产物。主体内在思想矛盾运动既包括主体思想品德结构中诸要素的矛盾，也包括主体当前思想品德环境与原有思想品德状态之间的矛盾，既表现为主体知情意信行诸要素在发展方向、发展水平等方面的矛盾运动，又表现为主体对一定社会品德要求的反映同原有思想品德环境之间的矛盾运动。无论哪一种矛盾运动，只有主体自觉自主地接受外部影响，积极开展内在思想矛盾斗争，不断突破原有的思想品德环境，才能产生新的思想品德状态。

Ideological and political education is a practical activity that exerts external influence on the formation and development of individuals’ ideological and moral character. Whether this activity can guide individuals to generate positive ideological contradictions and movements, thereby promoting the balanced development of the various elements of the individual’s ideological and moral character system, and transforming the ideological and moral requirements of a given society into the individual’s own ideological and moral character, ultimately depends on the individual’s willingness to accept it. Among these factors, “a clear willingness to accept is mainly manifested in the active need–motivation system of the educational object.” [9]9 Chen Wanbai, Zhang Yaocan, eds., *Principles of Ideological and Political Education*, 3rd ed. (Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2015), p. 155. Need is the basic factor governing individual thought and behavior; the educational object always selectively receives information from ideological and political education based on its own actual ideological state and inner needs. The differentiated landscape of individual needs directly determines the differences in different individuals’ willingness to accept the same content, affects the degree to which they participate in ideological and political education activities and internalize and practice the information of ideological and political education, and the differences in the transformation of inner ideological contradictions among different individuals further shape the distinct ideological and moral features of individuals. Therefore, ideological and political education can only effectively stimulate the strong interest and willingness to accept of the educational object, and prompt it to consciously and voluntarily recognize and participate in the entire process of ideological and political education from a subjective perspective, actively develop in the direction required by society, continuously improve the structure of ideological and moral character, and raise the level of ideological and moral character, if it orients itself toward individual needs, adheres to the principle of gradation, acknowledges and respects differentiated individual needs, promptly satisfies individual needs, especially the individual’s ideological and moral needs, and establishes and strengthens the need–motivation system.

思想政治教育是对个体思想品德的形成和发展施加外部影响的实践活动，这一活动能否引导个体产生积极的思想矛盾运动，进而促进个体思想品德系统诸要素均衡发展，并将一定社会的思想品德要求转化为个体自身的思想品德，最终取决于个体的接受意愿。其中，“明确的接受意愿主要表现为教育对象活跃的需要——动机系统。”需要是支配个体思想行为的基本因素，教育对象总是基于自身的思想实际与内在需要有选择地接收思想政治教育信息。个体差异化的需要图景直接决定了不同个体对于同一内容接受意愿的差异，影响其参与思想政治教育活动并对思想政治教育信息进行内化与践履的程度，不同个体内在思想矛盾转化的差异进一步塑造了个体相异的思想品德面貌。因此，思想政治教育只有面向个体需要，坚持层次性原则，承认并尊重个体差异化的需要，及时满足个体需要，尤其是个体的思想需要和道德需要，建立并强化需要—动机系统才能有效激发教育对象的强烈兴趣和接受意愿，才能促动其自觉自愿地以一种主体的视角体认并参与整个思想政治教育过程，主动朝着社会所要求的方向发展，不断完善思想品德结构，提升思想品德水平。

2. The Practical Imperative of Resolving the Individualization Dilemma of Ideological and Political Education

2.破解思想政治教育个体化困境的实然诉求

The advent of an individualized society is a new trend and new feature of contemporary society. So-called individualization refers to “the structural characteristic of modern society determined by industrialized production and the market economy, and also a social movement that, under the ‘dependence on things,’ forges individuals into individual persons through a series of social mechanisms.” [10]10 Yan Kunru, “Individualization and the Transformation of the Social Governance Model in Contemporary China,” *Academic Monthly* 2012, no. 3, p. 11. Individualization shapes an independent and complete sense of individual existence, endowing individuals with a stronger sense of independence and freedom of choice at the level of daily life. There is a complex interactive relationship among people, education, and the environment. The objects of ideological and political education are real people situated in a specific social environment, and the conduct of ideological and political education activities cannot be separated from the specific social environment. This determines that the social trend of individualization will inevitably have a certain impact on ideological and political education, causing ideological and political education in the New Era to face an individualization dilemma. Specifically, with the acceleration of the individualization process, individual rights and individuality are increasingly exalted, people’s sense of independence and individualized needs are unprecedentedly strong, and the ideological concepts of social members tend to become more diversified and complex. This intensifies the contradiction between the diversification of individual value orientations and the unification of socially dominant values. At the same time, individualization also fully activates the individual’s desire to pursue material interests, causing the value concept of “living for oneself” to spread rapidly among social members. Coupled with the strong infiltration of Western erroneous trends of thought such as consumerism and pan-entertainmentism, individuals are easily plunged into spiritual alienation crises such as floating and uncertain ideals and beliefs, and distorted and utilitarian value orientations. This undoubtedly poses a huge challenge to ideological and political education in the New Era.

个体化社会的来临是当代社会的一个新趋势和新特征。所谓个体化，是指“由工业化生产和市场经济决定的现代社会的结构性特征，也是在‘物的依赖关系’下通过一系列社会机制把个人铸就成为个体的社会运动。”个体化塑造了一种独立而完整的个体存在感，赋予个体在日常生活层面以更强的独立意识与选择自由。人、教育、环境之间具备复杂的交互关系，思想政治教育对象是处于特定社会环境中的现实的人，思想政治教育活动的开展亦无法脱离具体的社会环境，这决定了社会个体化趋势必然会对思想政治教育造成一定冲击，致使新时代思想政治教育面临个体化困境。具体地看，伴随个体化进程加速，个体的权利和个性愈加高扬，人的独立意识和个性化需求空前强烈，社会成员的思想观念也更趋于多元化与复杂化，这加剧了个体价值取向多元化与社会主导价值观一元化之间的矛盾。与此同时，个体化还充分激活了个体追求物质利益的欲望，使“为自我而活”的价值理念在社会成员中迅速蔓延，加之消费主义、泛娱乐主义等西方错误思潮的强势渗透，个体极易陷入理想信念漂浮不定、价值取向扭曲功利等精神异化危机，这无疑对新时代思想政治教育造成了巨大挑战。

Faced with the objective situation of an increasingly obvious trend of social individualization, ideological and political education in the New Era can only effectively break through the individualization dilemma by orienting itself toward individual needs, breaking the rigid thinking that places society above the individual, paying close attention to the material and spiritual needs of individuals, and properly handling the relationship between social needs and individual needs. First, under the trend of individualization, the objects faced by ideological and political education are increasingly individualized real individuals with strong needs. This requires ideological and political education to respect the individual’s subjective status, attach importance to and strive to satisfy the reasonable needs of each individual, especially the individual’s needs for survival, development, and spiritual enjoyment. Second, individualization requires ideological and political education to enter the individual’s spiritual world, and to promptly and efficiently solve people’s ideological problems by orienting itself toward individual needs. Individualization intensifies the diversification of people’s ideological concepts. Only by carefully analyzing the spiritual needs of different objects in concrete practice, and providing targeted ideological guidance according to the individualized needs of individuals, can ideological and political education effectively solve the complex ideological problems of individuals. Third, individualization requires ideological and political education to regulate and guide individual needs, and to actively play its due role in strengthening the collective consciousness of social members and constructing a healthy spiritual life for individuals. While individualization highlights people’s independence and individuality, it also weakens people’s collective consciousness to a certain extent. Only by strengthening the regulation and guidance of individual needs, coordinating individual material and spiritual needs, and guiding individuals to internalize collective needs and national needs as their own needs, can ideological and political education in the New Era better cultivate the public moral spirit and social responsibility consciousness of individuals, and promote the mutual integration and promotion of individualization and Chinese-path modernization.

面对社会个体化趋势愈加明显的客观情况，新时代思想政治教育唯有面向个体需要，打破将社会凌驾于个人的固化思维，高度关注个体的物质需要和精神需要，妥善处理社会需要与个体需要之间的关系，才能有效突破个体化困境。其一，个体化趋势下思想政治教育所面对的对象是日益个性化且具有强烈需要的现实个人，这要求思想政治教育尊重个体的主体地位，重视并努力满足每个个体的合理需要，尤其是个体生存、发展及精神享受的需要。其二，个体化要求思想政治教育走进个体精神世界，通过面向个体需要及时高效地解决人的思想问题。个体化加剧了人们思想观念的多元化，思想政治教育只有在具体实践中细致分析不同对象的精神需要，根据个体个性化需要予以针对性的思想引导，才能有效解决个体复杂的思想问题。其三，个体化要求思想政治教育规范并引导个体需要，积极发挥在强化社会成员的集体意识，构建个体健康精神生活等方面的应有作用。个体化在突出人的独立性和个体性的同时，也在一定程度上弱化了人的集体意识。新时代思想政治教育只有加强对个体需要的规范与引导，协调个体物质需要与精神需要，引导个体将集体需要、国家需要内化为自身需要，才能更好地培育个体公共道德精神和社会责任意识，推动个性化与中国式现代化共融共促。

3. The Inevitable Requirement for Promoting High-Quality Development of Ideological and Political Education

3.推动思想政治教育高质量发展的必然要求

The New Era endows ideological and political education with a new mission and puts forward the strategic requirement of high-quality development for ideological and political education. Compared with “low-quality development,” “high-quality development” points to an efficient, precise, and meticulous development model, paying more attention to efficiency change and quality change. In a certain sense, precision, meticulousness, and solidity are the core essence and important basis of high-quality development of ideological and political education. To construct high-quality ideological and political education in the New Era, it is necessary to take precise thinking as the guide, moving from the traditional education model of “flood irrigation” to the education model of “precise drip irrigation.” Among these, precise thinking is committed to solving the contradiction between supply and demand, emphasizing the creation of a scientifically balanced supply–demand relationship through precise identification and precise supply, thereby enhancing the pertinence and effectiveness of ideological and political education. From this perspective, the key to high-quality development of ideological and political education lies in the fit between supply and demand, that is, achieving a precise match between the supply of elements of ideological and political education and the needs of the object, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of education. However, although people’s needs are similar overall, in reality, individual needs, especially individual spiritual needs, are special and complex. This is reflected not only in the differences in the specific content or level of needs among different individuals due to differences in material conditions and cognitive levels, but also in the fact that the same individual has different needs at different historical stages. Because the needs of the objects of ideological and political education are both diverse and changeable, any concept or practice that ignores individuals and their needs will find it difficult to achieve a fit between supply and demand, let alone efficiently and precisely solve people’s ideological problems.

新时代赋予思想政治教育新使命，并对思想政治教育提出了高质量发展的战略要求。相较于“低质量发展”，“高质量发展”指向高效、精准、细致的发展模式，更加注重效率变革和质量变革。在一定意义上，精准细实是思想政治教育高质量发展的核心要义和重要依据，高质量构建新时代思想政治教育必须以精准思维为导向，从“大水漫灌”的传统教育模式走向“精准滴灌”育人模式。其中，精准思维致力于解决供需不畅的矛盾，强调通过精准识别、精准供给打造科学平衡的供需关系，增强思想政治教育针对性和实效性。由是观之，思想政治教育高质量发展的关键在于供需契合，即实现思想政治教育要素供给与对象需要的精准对接，从而最大限度地提升教育实效。然而，人的需要虽在整体上具有相似性，但就现实性而言，个体需要，尤其是个体精神需要则是特殊又复杂的，这既反映在不同个体由于物质条件及认知水平等方面的差异，在需要的具体内容或层次上会存在差异，也体现在同一个体在不同历史阶段具备不同需要。由于思想政治教育对象的需要既多元又多变，因而任何忽视个体及其需要的观念与做法都难以实现供需契合，更无法高效精准地解决人的思想问题。

Ideological and political education is the lifeline of economic work and all other work. The accelerated advance of Chinese-path modernization urgently requires the high-quality development of ideological and political education, thereby strengthening the ideological guidance of members of society and consolidating the spiritual foundation of Chinese-path modernization. However, promoting the high-quality development of ideological and political education in the New Era must be oriented toward individual needs, adhere to concrete analysis of concrete problems, and break through the development predicament of traditional ideological and political education’s “flood irrigation.” On the one hand, high-quality development of ideological and political education requires that ideological and political educators establish a concept of education that seeks refinement and specificity, uphold a scientific and meticulous work attitude, and carry out ideological and political education down to the individual. High-quality development emphasizes precision, concreteness, and efficiency. Only by discarding the practices of “one-size-fits-all” and “cooking everything in one pot,” basing work on concrete individuals, meticulously analyzing the individual differences and ideological characteristics of different objects, and conducting classified guidance according to the actual ideological conditions of different objects, can ideological and political education finely and efficiently resolve people’s deep-seated ideological problems. On the other hand, high-quality development of ideological and political education requires meeting people’s spiritual needs with high quality, ensuring that the supply of elements of ideological and political education precisely matches individual needs. The fit between supply and demand is an inherent requirement of high-quality development. This demands that ideological and political education precisely connect with the needs of educational objects, truly achieving “suiting the remedy to the case” and “cutting the garment according to the figure.” But only by orienting toward individual needs, especially individual spiritual needs, can ideological and political education deepen its grasp of differentiated individual needs, and, on the basis of precisely identifying individual needs, precisely supply content, thereby enhancing the fit and matching degree between the allocation of elements of ideological and political education and the needs of objects, achieving a fit between supply and demand while meeting individual personalized needs with high quality.

思想政治教育是经济工作和其他一切工作的生命线，中国式现代化进程的加速推进迫切要求高质量地开展思想政治教育，从而强化对社会成员的思想引领，夯实中国式现代化的精神基础。然而，推动新时代思想政治教育高质量发展必须面向个体需要，坚持具体问题具体分析，破解传统思想政治教育“大水漫灌”的发展困境。一方面，思想政治教育高质量发展要求思想政治教育者树立求精求细的育人观念，秉持科学细致的工作态度，将思想政治教育做到个人。高质量发展讲究精细、具化、高效，思想政治教育只有摒弃“一刀切”“一锅煮”的做法，立足于具体的个人，细致分析不同对象的个体差异和思想特征，根据不同对象的思想实际展开分类指导，才能精细高效地解决人们深层次的思想问题。另一方面，思想政治教育高质量发展要求高质量地满足人的精神需要，保证思想政治教育要素供给与个体需要精准契合。供需契合是高质量发展的内在规定，这要求思想政治教育精准对接教育对象的需要，真正做到“对症下药”“量体裁衣”。但思想政治教育只有面向个体需要尤其是个体精神需要，才能深化对个体差异化需要的把握，并在精准识别个体需要的基础上精准供给内容，进而增强思想政治教育要素配置与对象需要的契合性、匹配度，在高质量满足个体个性化需要的同时做到供需契合。

III. The Practical Orientation of Ideological and Political Education Oriented toward Individual Needs in the New Era

三、新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要的实践指向

Adhering to the fit between supply and demand, structural optimization, and putting the people first are the inherent requirements of ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs. To promote ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs in the New Era, in concrete practice it is necessary both to precisely map the landscape of individual needs to enhance the adaptability of element supply, and to focus on the people’s needs for a better life to elevate the hierarchy of individual needs, and also to resolutely implement the principle of “not a single person can be left behind” to assist the people in achieving common prosperity in spiritual life.

坚持供需契合、结构优化、人民至上是思想政治教育面向个体需要的内在规定。推动新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要，在具体实践中既要精准把脉个体需要图景以增强要素供给适配度，也要聚焦人民美好生活需要以提升个体需要层次性，还要坚决贯彻“一个不能少”以助力人民精神生活共同富裕。

1. Fit between Supply and Demand: Precisely Mapping the Landscape of Individual Needs, Enhancing the Adaptability of Element Supply

1.供需契合：精准把脉个体需要图景，增强要素供给适配度

Adhering to the fit between supply and demand is the proper meaning of ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs. Taking educational objects as the demand side and ideological and political educators as the supply side, the establishment of a relationship between the two sides is like a bridge; otherwise, the two sides are like parallel lines, and the fit between supply and demand can never be achieved. Therefore, resolving the contradiction between the supply of ideological and political education and the needs of objects should be jointly addressed from the relationship side, the demand side, and the supply side, achieving precise identification and precise supply.

坚持供需契合是思想政治教育面向个体需要的应有之义。以教育对象为需求端，以思想政治教育者为供给端，双方关系的建立犹如桥梁，否则双方则为平行线，根本无法实现供需契合。因此，化解思想政治教育供给与对象需要之间的矛盾应从关系端、需求端、供给端共同发力，做到精准识别、精准供给。

First, establishing a well-interactive communicative relationship between ideological and political educators and educational objects is an important prerequisite. As the organizers of ideological and political education activities, ideological and political educators bear the primary responsibility in establishing the relationship between the two sides. This requires them to respect the subject status of individual need expression, establish a concept of democratic and equal communication, recognize that educational objects have the subjective capacity to pursue personalized needs, and construct an equal and harmonious intersubjective relationship. Furthermore, ideological and political educators should sincerely care about the diverse needs of educational objects, especially paying attention to their spiritual development needs, and exert effort in areas such as establishing ideals and beliefs, stimulating patriotic emotions, and cultivating core values. They should also be willing, based on the personalized characteristics of objects’ needs, to actively create suitable dialogue modes and discourse contexts, smooth the dialogue and communication between the two sides, stimulate the desire of individuals to express their needs on the basis of deepening the fusion of horizons, and enhance the trust and interactivity of the relationship between the two sides.

第一，建立思想政治教育者与教育对象之间互动良好的交往关系是重要前提。作为思想政治教育活动的组织者，思想政治教育者在建立双方关系中负有主要责任，这要求其尊重个体需要表达的主体地位，树立民主平等的交往理念，承认教育对象具有追求个性化需要的主体能力，建构平等和谐的主体间关系。此外，思想政治教育者应真诚地关心教育对象的多元需求，尤其要注重其精神发展需要，在理想信念的树立、爱国主义情感的激发以及核心价值观的培育等方面发力。还要乐于依据对象需要的个性化特征，主动创设适宜的对话模式和话语语境，畅通双方的对话交流，在深化视域融合的基础上激发个体需要的表达欲，提升双方关系的信任度和互动性。

Second, precisely mapping the landscape of individual needs is a key link. One must first take the figure before cutting the garment; only by precisely identifying needs and then providing targeted supply can the fit between supply and demand possibly be achieved. Ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs in the New Era “must actively conform to the requirements of the information age, utilize digital, networked, and intelligent information technologies to strengthen the targetedness and effectiveness of ideological and political education,” relying on cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence to achieve precise identification of individual needs, assisting the precise implementation of policies on the supply side of ideological and political education. Specifically, ideological and political education in the New Era should enhance the awareness and capability of technological empowerment, use big data to obtain data information on individual needs, establish data models of individual needs, grasp the laws of individual need development based on in-depth data mining and dynamic monitoring, and identify individual personalized needs. It should use algorithm technologies such as recommendation algorithms, clustering algorithms, and deep learning algorithms to process massive data sets, precisely outline the landscape of individual needs based on detailed analysis of massive data, study and judge the development dynamics of individual needs, grasp the psychological expectations of individual needs, and clarify the internal sequence of individual needs.

第二，精准把脉个体需要图景是关键环节。先量体其后方能裁衣，精准识别需要进而予以针对性供给才可能实现供需契合。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要“必须主动顺应信息时代的要求，利用数字化、网络化、智能化的信息技术强化思想政治教育的针对性和实效性”，依托云计算、大数据、人工智能等前沿技术实现对个体需要的精准识别，助力思想政治教育供给端的精准施策。具言之，新时代思想政治教育要增强技术赋能的意识和能力，运用大数据获取个体需要数据信息，建立个体需要数据模型，基于数据深入挖掘和动态监测把握个体需要发展规律，识别个体个性化需要。要借助推荐算法、聚类算法、深度学习算法等算法技术对巨量数据集合进行加工处理，基于对海量数据的细化分析精准勾勒个体需要图景，研判个体需要发展动态，掌握个体需要心理预期，厘清个体需要内在序列。

Third, optimizing the supply of elements adapted to needs is a necessary measure. Achieving the fit between supply and demand requires precise implementation of policies based on precise identification of individual needs, completing the precise connection between the supply of elements of ideological and political education and the needs of objects. On the one hand, ideological and political education in the New Era should discard the supply concept of “one face for a thousand people” in traditional ideological and political education, make good use of the great classroom of society, excavate resources for ideological and political education from rich, colorful, real, and perceptible real life, establish a supply repository of ideological and political education adapted to diverse needs, and provide personalized element supply according to differentiated individual needs. On the other hand, optimizing the supply of elements adapted to individual needs must adhere to the unity of stage-by-stage and coherent advancement, promoting the development of individual needs while fitting them, neither pulling up seedlings to help them grow nor marking the boat to find the lost sword. [11]11 “Pulling up seedlings to help them grow” (揠苗助长) is a classical Chinese idiom from *Mencius*, meaning to force growth by artificial means, resulting in failure. “Marking the boat to find the lost sword” (刻舟求剑) is a fable from *Lüshi Chunqiu*, meaning to act rigidly without adapting to changed circumstances. Ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs in the New Era should both pay attention to the variability of individual needs, carrying out targeted element allocation according to individuals’ spiritual development needs and actual ideological conditions at different stages, and take the individual’s “zone of proximal development” as a breakthrough point, maintaining an appropriate tension between element supply and individual needs, forming a vertically connected, spiraling upward supply sequence to promote the development of individual needs.

第三，优化适配需要的要素供给是必要举措。实现供需契合要求基于对个体需要的精准识别精准施策，完成思想政治教育要素供给与对象需要的精准对接。一方面，新时代思想政治教育要摒弃传统思想政治教育“千人一面”的供给理念，善用社会大课堂，从丰富多彩、真实可感的现实生活中挖掘思想政治教育资源，建立适配多元需要的思想政治教育供给库，根据差异化的个体需要提供个性化的要素供给。另一方面，优化适配个体需要的要素供给须坚持阶段性和贯通性相统一，在契合个体需要的同时促进个体需要发展，既不揠苗助长，也不刻舟求剑。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要既要注重个体需要的变动性，根据个体在不同阶段的精神发展需要及思想实际进行针对性的要素配置，又要以个体的“最近发展区”为突破口，保持要素供给与个体需要之间的适度张力，形成纵向衔接、螺旋上升的供给序列以促进个体需要发展。

2. Structural Optimization: Focusing on the People’s Needs for a Better Life, Elevating the Hierarchy of Individual Needs

2.结构优化：聚焦人民美好生活需要，提升个体需要层次性

As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has been transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. The need for a better life is both the overall expression of social needs in a certain period and the expectation and requirement of each individual for a better life. Ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs in the New Era should take the need for a better life as its value guide, optimize the structure of individual needs, elevate the hierarchy of individual needs, and guide individuals to sail toward the direction of a better life.

中国特色社会主义进入新时代，我国社会主要矛盾已经转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾。美好生活需要既是一定时期社会需要的总体表达，也是每个个体对美好生活的期待和要求。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要应以美好生活需要为价值遵循，优化个体需要结构，提升个体需要层次，引导个体朝着美好生活的方向驶进。

First, enrich the content of individual needs and promote the balanced development of individual needs. Optimizing the structure of people’s needs, enriching the forms of people’s material and spiritual life, and meeting the people’s needs for a better life are new tasks posed to ideological and political education by a materially abundant society. Compared with material and cultural needs, the need for a better life is a richer, more three-dimensional need. This need transcends the one-sided pursuit of material wealth and emphasizes the satisfaction and development of spiritual needs. Therefore, meeting the people’s needs for a better life requires not only providing them with quality material living conditions at the material level but also satisfying their constantly developing rich spiritual needs. Ideological and political education in the New Era should guard against the one-dimensional growth of individual needs, guide individual needs to develop from low to high levels, respect individuals’ material needs, and also enhance the ability to activate and satisfy individuals’ spiritual development needs and spiritual enjoyment needs, promoting the pleasure and fullness of individuals’ spiritual world, and shaping individuals’ rich and colorful life world.

首先，丰富个体需要内容，促进个体需要平衡发展。优化人的需要结构，丰富人的物质生活和精神生活形态，满足人民美好生活需要是物质丰裕的社会对思想政治教育提出的新课题。相较于物质文化需要，美好生活需要是更加丰富、立体的需要，这种需要超越了对物质财富的片面化追求，注重精神需要的满足和发展。因此，满足人民美好生活需要不仅要求在物质层面为其提供有品质的物质生活条件，还要求满足其不断发展的丰富的精神需要。新时代思想政治教育要警惕个体需要的单向度滋长，引导个体需要由低层次向高层次发展，既要尊重个体的物质需要，也要增强激活与满足个体精神发展需要和精神享受需要的能力，促进个体精神世界的愉悦与充盈，塑造个体丰富多彩的生活世界。

Second, distinguish the nature of individual needs and resolve the dilemma of regulating individual needs. Whether individual needs are satisfied and to what degree is the dominant basis for individuals to evaluate whether life is good, but “if needs are not proper and reasonable, individuals naturally cannot realize a good life under such ‘needs.’” [12]12 Source not given in the original; likely a paraphrase from Chinese scholarly discourse on needs theory. Thus, the need for a good life is both a need for all-round development and a need for regulation and reasonableness. Satisfying individuals’ need for a good life involves not only the question of supply but also requires reflection on the nature of individual needs. At present, under the acceleration of the individualization process, the complexity of individual needs intensifies; amid the interweaving of diverse trends of thought, the heterogeneity of individual needs becomes prominent; with the high development of virtual networks, the regulation of individual needs weakens. In the New Era, ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs must strengthen the shaping of individuals’ ideals, convictions, and core socialist values, enabling people to draw the boundary between needs and desires. Through ideological intervention and moral cultivation, it must promptly regulate individuals’ false needs, radical needs, and improper needs, preventing and controlling the crisis of the alienation of individual needs.

其次，甄别个体需要性质，破解个体需要规范性困境。个体需要是否得到满足及其满足程度是个体评价生活是否美好的主导依据，但“需要如果不正当、不合理，个体自然无法实现这种‘需要’下的美好生活。”可见，美好生活需要既是一种全面发展的需要，又是一种规范性、合理性的需要，满足个体美好生活需要不仅关涉供给的问题，还需反思个体需要的性质。当前，个体化进程加速下个体需要复杂性加剧，多元思潮交织下个体需要异质性凸显，虚拟网络高度发展下个体需要规范性弱化。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要必须加强对个体理想信念及社会主义核心价值观的塑造，使人们划清需要与欲望的界限，通过思想干预和道德教化及时对个体虚假需要、激进需要、非正当性需要等进行规约，防控个体需要异化危机。

Finally, guide the direction of individual needs and enhance value consensus on individual needs. Individual needs are characterized by difference and dispersion; different individuals, based on their own material conditions and cognitive levels, have different understandings and judgments of a good life. However, the social attribute of individuals determines that the satisfaction of individuals’ need for a good life is socially conditioned. The mutual exclusion and opposition of diverse individual needs, to a certain extent, hampers the centralized allocation of limited social resources. Only by striving to find the greatest common divisor of different individual needs can diverse needs be satisfied to the greatest extent. In the New Era, ideological and political education must both attend to the individual differences in the need for a good life and strengthen spiritual guidance for individuals, guiding individual needs to adjust in a direction that conforms to the common interests of social members, stimulating individuals’ internal motivation to move toward social needs, drawing the largest concentric circle [13]13 “Largest concentric circle” (最大同心圆) is a metaphor used in Chinese political discourse to describe the broadest possible unity of diverse interests around a common goal. amid differentiated needs, so that everyone truly feels a sense of goodness and happiness.

最后，引导个体需要方向，增进个体需要价值共识。个体需要具有差异性和离散性，不同个体基于自身的物质条件及认知水平对于美好生活的理解和判定存在区别。然而，个体的社会属性决定了个体美好生活需要的满足具有社会制约性，多元个体需要的互斥对立在一定程度上掣肘了有限社会资源的集中配置，唯有努力寻求不同个体需要的最大公约数，才能最大程度地满足多元需要。新时代思想政治教育既要关注美好生活需要的个体性差异，也要强化对个体的精神引领，引导个体需要朝着符合社会成员共同利益的方向调整，激发个体趋向社会需要的内在动力，在差异化需要中绘就最大同心圆，令每个人都真切感受到美好幸福。

3. People Supremacy: Assisting Common Prosperity in Spiritual Life, Implementing “Not One Can Be Left Behind”

3.人民至上：助力精神生活共同富裕，贯彻“一个不能少”

Ideological and political education is not only an educational activity but also a social practice that safeguards the fundamental interests of the broad masses of the people, possessing a distinct people-oriented character. However, “the people are not an abstract symbol, but concrete individuals one by one”; “in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, not one can be left behind; on the road to common prosperity, not one can be left to fall behind.” [14]14 Quotation from Xi Jinping, often cited in the context of the poverty alleviation campaign and the goal of common prosperity. The “not one can be left behind,” which appears in the form of political discourse, is both an inherent requirement of the socialist principle and a manifestation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s profound people-centered sentiment and lofty sense of responsibility. In the New Era, ideological and political education oriented toward individual needs must uphold the people-centered value orientation and the value stance of people supremacy, implementing “not one can be left behind” in promoting common prosperity in spiritual life.

思想政治教育不仅是一项教育活动，更是维护广大人民群众根本利益的社会实践，具有鲜明的人民性。然而，“人民不是抽象的符号，而是一个一个具体的人”“全面建成小康社会，一个不能少；共同富裕路上，一个不能掉队。”以政治话语形式出场的“一个不能少”，既是社会主义原则的内在要求，也昭示了习近平总书记深厚的人民情怀和崇高的责任担当。新时代思想政治教育面向个体需要必须秉持以人民为中心的价值取向和人民至上的价值立场，在推进精神生活共同富裕中贯彻“一个不能少”。

First, uphold people supremacy, embodying commonality and equality in the satisfaction of individual spiritual needs. Ideological and political education plays a key role in satisfying the people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs and promoting common prosperity in the people’s spiritual life. Common prosperity in spiritual life is a solemn commitment made by the Party and the state to all the people, not to a minority, and is a goal pursuit emphasizing equality, universality, and authenticity. In the New Era, ideological and political education must focus on the real life and spiritual development needs of each person, striving to create opportunities and conditions for each person’s spiritual development, never leaving anyone behind due to biases of class, status, occupation, etc., enabling everyone to share the fruits of cultural-ethical progress, “not one can be left behind,” continuously enhancing the sense of happiness, gain, and satisfaction of all the people, truly revolving around people, caring for people, and serving people.

其一，坚持人民至上，在个体精神需要的满足中体现共同性、平等性。思想政治教育在满足人民日益增长的精神文化需要、促进人民精神生活共同富裕方面发挥着关键作用。精神生活共同富裕是党和国家对全体人民而非少数人所做出的庄严承诺，是注重平等性、广泛性和真实性的目标追求。新时代思想政治教育要着眼于每个人的现实生活和精神发展需要，努力为每个人的精神发展创设机会与条件，绝不因阶级、地位、职业等偏见落下任何一个人，“一个不能少”地使每个人都能共享精神文明发展成果，不断提升全体人民的幸福感、获得感和满足感，真正做到围绕人、关心人、服务人。

Second, respect individual spiritual individuality, manifesting the richness and diversity of spiritual life within common prosperity. The human spiritual world exhibits individualized characteristics. Common prosperity in the people’s spiritual life not only points to each individual at the level of universality but also takes the richness and diversity of individual spiritual life as an important representation. Spiritual life is first of all the spiritual life of individuals; each person has unique spiritual experiences and spiritual needs. Only by engaging in ideological exchange and spiritual interaction with individuals can ideological and political education truly activate individual spiritual practice. Therefore, in the New Era, ideological and political education must both maintain the mainstream and acknowledge differences. In assisting common prosperity in spiritual life, it must both emphasize equality and, even more, emphasize diversity, respecting individual spiritual needs and individual spiritual characteristics, attending to each individual’s needs and their changes, and, in combination with the actual ideological conditions of different individuals, enhance the reality and pertinence of satisfying the people’s spiritual needs, constructing a spiritual world where individual individuality is fully expressed.

其二，尊重个体精神个性，在共同富裕中彰显精神生活的丰富多样性。人的精神世界呈现出个性化特征，人民精神生活共同富裕不仅在广泛性层面指向每个个体，更以个体精神生活之丰富多样性为重要表征。精神生活首先是个人的精神生活，每个人都具有独特的精神体验和精神需要，思想政治教育唯有展开与个人的思想交流和精神交往才能真正启动个人精神实践。因此，新时代思想政治教育既要保持主流也要承认差异，在助力精神生活共同富裕中既要注重平等性，更要注重多样性，尊重个体精神需要和个体精神特性，关切每个个体的需要及其变化，并结合不同个体的思想实际增强满足人民精神需要的现实性和针对性，建构个体个性悠扬的精神世界。

Third, unleash the spirit of individual struggle, advancing common prosperity in spiritual life within Chinese-path modernization. Realizing common prosperity in the spiritual life of all the people both settles on each individual and depends on the hard struggle of each individual. Orienting toward individual needs is not only about satisfying individual needs; guiding individual needs and bringing out their social value is a more important dimension. In the New Era, ideological and political education must attach great importance to the people’s position as the subject of history, fully stimulate the spirit of individual struggle, enhance individuals’ moral cultivation and spiritual realm, guide individuals to consciously connect the “small self” with the “big self,” gather the mighty force for modernization, advance common prosperity for all the people in the great practice of Chinese-path modernization, and realize enjoyment by all through participation and struggle by all.

其三，发挥个体奋斗精神，在中国式现代化中推进精神生活共同富裕。实现全体人民精神生活共同富裕既落脚于单个个体，又依赖于每个个体的努力奋斗。面向个体需要不只是满足个体需要，引导个体需要并发挥其社会价值是更为重要的向度。新时代思想政治教育要高度重视人民历史主体地位，充分激发个体奋斗精神，提高个体道德修养和精神境界，引导个体自觉将“小我”与“大我”紧密联通，汇聚起现代化建设的磅礴力量，在中国式现代化的伟大实践中推进全体人民共同富裕，以人人参与、人人奋斗实现人人享有。

(Author bios: Zhao Benyan, doctoral candidate, mainly engaged in research on ideological and political education in higher education.)

（作者简介：赵本燕，博士研究生，主要从事高校思想政治教育研究）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心