Abstract: Youth space,a public space established by urban youth to facilitate conversations and spiritual exchanges,has proliferated in China since 2012.Through the participatory observation of Youth Space A and in-depth interviews with 20 participants,this article examines the double life experienced by middle-class migrant youth in Beijing under the institutionalized individualization.It argues that the highly competitive institutional environment,with the labor market as its core,has systematically pressured the migrant youth into a utilitarian institutionalized life model.Under the circumstance,young migrants,on the one hand,are"striving individuals "in order to adapt;on the other hand,they are deeply suspicious and despondent,struggling between institutional dependency and the need for autonomy.Constructing social interaction in youth space becomes their way of exploring their" authentic selves ".In Youth Space A,migrant youths build transient" pure relationships "between strangers and participate in public life through noncompetitive relations and highly spiritual conversations over topics on daily life reflections,intellectual engagement,and public concerns.In so doing,they constitute an" authentic self "that enables them to reveal their true inner selves and resist social constrains.However,the sociability in the youth space is set upon the premise of" anti-daily-life"that precludes its integration into everyday action,and is thus incapable of changing the established structure of daily life.In fact,to certain degree,it is confined by the logic of institutionalized life such as utility and instrumentality,thus reducing the self authenticity to a tangled,fragile,and place-specific experience for migrant youth.This study reflects on the utilitarian-oriented paradigm o "f striving individual" in the discussion of the individualization of the Chinese society,and of the Chinese youth in particular.It helps to the understanding of the dual connotation of institutionalized individualization.In addition,by analyzing the relationship between public life and the authentic self,it sheds light on the issue of the publicity dilemma and its Chinese specificity in the process of individualization.

Key words: individualization, authenticity, migrant youth, sociability