How Confucian are Contemporary Chinese? Construction of an Ideal Type and its Application to Three Chinese Communities
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors construct an ideal type of Confucian actors, which is then applied to a survey of three Chinese communities, trying to formulate a new perspective in depicting the character of modern Chinese actors, measured in terms of their dynamic proximity to the Confucians ideal type.
Abstract: As a major source of social values in East Asia, Confucianism assumes especial significance amidst the proliferation of instrumental rationality in modern societies. This study attempts to answer the question: how Confucian are contemporary Chinese? By way of constructing an ideal type of Confucian actors, which is then applied to a survey of three Chinese communities, this study tries to formulate a new perspective in depicting the character of modern Confucian actors, measured in terms of their dynamic proximity to the Confucian ideal type. Our approach marks a shift of emphasis, both empirically and methodologically, compared with previous work on this topic. On the empirical side, our study breaks with the long-standing, classical distinction between the 'gentleman' and the 'commoner' prevalent in Confucian discourse. Degrees of proximity to Confucian values are viewed in representational—i.e. non-evaluative—terms. In constructing the ideal type of Confucian actors, we distinguish between formal and substantive values in Confucianism. This analytical distinction allows our study to demonstrate the continued relevance of Confucianism. While substantive values change over time, the formal, analytical core that captures the essence of Confucianism continues to survive in the face of the vicissitudes of modernity and the spread of instrumental rationality.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a concise introduction of sustainability in human resource management (HRM) from the western perspective, with a review of Confucian thinking, arguing that the application of sustainable in HRM is more effective and efficient under the influence of confucian values.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a concise introduction of sustainability in human resource management (HRM) from the western perspective. With a review of Confucian thinking, it argues that the application of sustainability in HRM is more effective and efficient under the influence of Confucian values. Therefore, Chinese companies are likely ready to embrace the concept of sustainability and implement sustainable people management practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is mainly theoretical in perspective. It also draws on semi-structured interview data derived from a study conducted in companies that operated in two cities in China: Guangzhou and Beijing to support the discussion of synergies between Confucian values and the western concept of sustainability in HRM. Findings – In the interviews, it was evident that the interviewees were adhered to Confucian values, although they did not make the connection explicit. The interview data also showed how Confucian values (e.g. R...
27 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that urban Chinese consistently attributed Chinese moral values (more than other types of values) to self-generated Chinese exemplary persons and Western moral values to selfgenerated Western exemplary persons, indicating that frequent exposure to foreign cultures can lead to enhanced perceptions of cultural differences.
Abstract: Chinese adolescents in urban cities (Beijing, Chengdu) and rural towns (Wei Shan Zhuang, Zheng Xing) generated Chinese and Western exemplary persons and rated the values these exemplary persons represent. The results showed that the tendency to differentiate Chinese culture from Western culture was greater among urban (vs rural) Chinese. Specifically, only urban Chinese consistently attributed Chinese moral values (more than other types of values) to self-generated Chinese exemplary persons and Western moral values (more than other types of values) to self-generated Western exemplary persons. Because urban Chinese have more frequent exposure to foreign cultures, our results suggest that frequent exposure to foreign cultures can lead to enhanced perceptions of cultural differences.
23 citations
Dissertation•
15 Apr 2015
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the adaptability of deliberative democracy in the Chinese context in terms of a normative perspective and proposed a discourse theory of Confucian rationality to balance the tension between normative theories and social-political facts.
Abstract: The adaptability issues of Western democracy in the context of China have always been an important academic concern. This research was intended to study the adaptability of deliberative democracy in the Chinese context in terms of a normative perspective. At the beginning, this research focused on Habermas‘s Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, because it is one of the most discussed normative deliberative democratic theories in China today. Taking into consideration the normativity and ideality of Habermas‘s theory, Foucault‘s discourse theory of power relations is then introduced to illustrate the tensions between different Western discourse theories. In order to investigate the adaptabilities of these two discourse theories in the Chinese context, and to balance the tension between them, another normative concept, namely the Confucian Rationality, is then drawn upon from traditional Chinese cultural sources. Accordingly, these three dimensions of discourse theory, as well as the relations between them, are presented. The employment of some empirical descriptions of certain Chinese historical-political facts is also necessary to explain, to supplement, or to question this theoretic framework. Two tension perspectives are critical throughout the research: the tension between universality and particularity, and the tension between normative theories and social-political facts.Through the approaches of textual studies, aided by conceptual and empirical studies as complements, the research is conducted as following: Chapter 1 discusses the tension between Habermas‘s normative discourse theory of law and democracy and social facts; Chapter 2 analyzes the tension between Habermas‘s discourse theory and Foucault‘s discourse theory of power relations, and proposes to rethink the tension problems. Chapter 3 tries to search for the resources in traditional Chinese political cultures, and to put forward another normative discourse theory- the discourse theory of Confucian rationality- to balance the tension between the foregoing two normative discourse theories. It is argued that an ideal type of Confucian rationality (a kind of normative value rationality) can be used as a bridge between the two opposite discourse theories. Chapter 4 further explains the normative theory that was proposed in Chapter 3, and tries to reexamine and redefine the concepts of ―Public Sphere‖ and ―Deliberative Politics in the context of traditional China through empirical descriptions on the ―Public Sphere‖ and political/legal discussions in traditional Chinese society. Finally,Chapter 5 focuses on the descriptions of the political and legal discussions in China's new media public sphere today. It is an empirical response to all the normative studies mentioned above, and at the same time an investigation on the tensions between the normative theories and the social experiences. We argue that, because of the different cognitive structures and diverse modes of thinking in specific cultures, there should be different normative paradigms of discourse democracy in corresponding cultural contexts. Normativity and reality are the two sides of the same coin. Normative discourse theories serve as the guidance for the practices of deliberative democracy, which can, in its turn, verify, supplement, improve and challenge the normative discourse theories. Apart from demonstrating of the multiple dimensions of discourse theories, another practical intent of this thesis is to promote an approach leading to discourse democracy that would combine elements of both Chinese and modern, consistent with both the fundamental predilections of Chinese civilization, and the practical needs of a modern China.
22 citations
TL;DR: Zhang et al. as discussed by the authors showed that social media use can contribute in important ways to employability outcomes, and that it has a moderating effect on the relationship between social media usage and employability skills.
Abstract: This paper proves that social media use can contribute in important ways to employability outcomes. Specifically, results from a survey of 196 recent graduate students in China indicate that social media use is positively related to employability skills. Internship effectiveness serve as a mediating mechanism through which social media use affects employability skills. Zhongyong has a moderating effect on the social media use-internship effectiveness relationship. In addition to the direct moderating effect, Zhongyong is found to moderate the indirect relationship between social media use and employability skills. We discuss implications of these results for research and practice.
22 citations
08 Jun 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a normative analysis of digital media and the good life, focusing on the relations between digital media, and propose the project of Net recommendation, which aims to re-assert the importance of actual discourses in normative analysis.
Abstract: Digital media has become an integral part of people’s lives, and its ubiquity and pervasiveness in our everyday lives raise new ethical, social, cultural, political, economic and legal issues. Many of these issues have primarily been dealt with in terms of what is ‘right’ or ‘just’ with digital media and digitally-mediated practices, and questions about the relations between digital media and the good life are often left in the background. In short, what is often missing is an explicit discussion of the relations between digital media and the good life.
Under the label of ‘Net recommendation’, the present study aims to offer a balanced and constructive normative analysis of digital media, focusing on the relations between digital media and the good life. The project of Net recommendation aims to (re)assert the importance of actual discourses in our normative analysis of the relations between digital media and the good life. I pursue this project with a Walzerian approach to digital media and the good life that takes seriously (and, ideally, also interacts with) actual discourses. This approach allows us to have a better understanding of our normative judgements on the impacts of digital media has (or will have) on the good life and, at the same time, allows us to answer the question of ‘how should we live with digital media?’ more adequately. Moreover, the Walzerian approach is useful in both an intra-cultural and an inter¬cultural context. Using China’s Internet as a case study, I show that the relations between digital media and the good life in each culture should be examined in its own right.
Together, I hope, this study provides an adequate illustration and defence of the project of Net recommendation that does not start with the assumption of digital media being a source of moral problem and strives to recommending specific ways to reform and/or transform digital media and digitally-mediated practices that allow us to have better relations with digital media and enable us to live better lives with them.
21 citations