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Journal ArticleDOI

The Good Samaritan's new trouble: A study of the changing moral landscape in contemporary China

Yunxiang Yan
- 01 Feb 2009 - 
- Vol. 17, Iss: 1, pp 9-24
TLDR
Li et al. as discussed by the authors focused on a rare type of extreme immoral cases in which the Good Samaritan is extorted by the very person being helped and made a particular effort to unpack why most extortionists of the good Samaritan are elderly people.
Abstract
Modernization often involves changes in behaviour norms, values, and moral reasoning; China is by no means an exception. The present study focuses on a rare type of extreme immoral cases in which the Good Samaritan is extorted by the very person being helped. A particular effort is made to unpack why most extortionists of the Good Samaritan are elderly people. Despite its rare occurrence, cases of extorting Good Samaritans have seriously negative impacts on social trust, compassion, and the principle of reciprocity. Yet, a close analysis of the cases and public opinions reveals the complexity of the seemingly straight immoral behaviour, especially the tension between two moral systems and the challenge of dealing with strangers, which in turn reflect the changing moral landscape in contemporary Chinese society.

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Citations
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Food Safety and Social Risk in Contemporary China

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The Chinese approach to artificial intelligence: an analysis of policy, ethics, and regulation

TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the socio-political background and policy debates that are shaping China's AI strategy and analyse the main strategic areas in which China is investing in AI and concurrent ethical debates that delimiting its use.
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Enclave Urbanism In China: Consequences and Interpretations

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on residential enclaves and consider the relevance of this criticism for urban China, arguing that such enclaves might indeed produce substantial negative effects, however, the materialization of these effects depends on local spatial and social realities.
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The Gender of Communication: Changing Expectations of Mothers and Daughters in Urban China

TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the celebration of a communicative intimacy does not signify the emergence of more equal family or gender relationships, as recent theories about the individualization and cultural democratization of daily life in Western societies have argued, and they draw on fieldwork conducted in Beijing between 2000 and 2004 to discuss the gendered dimensions of this process through an analysis of the implications of the "communicative intimacy sought by mothers and daughters in their mutual relationship.
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Neo-socialist governmentality: managing freedom in the People’s Republic of China

TL;DR: The authors conceptualized "neo-socialist governmentality" as a set of rationalities of governance that aim to shape, nurture, constrain and guide the autonomy of Chinese subjects in the post-revolu...
References
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Book

The consequences of modernity

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a Phenomonology of modernity and post-modernity in the context of trust in abstract systems and the transformation of intimacy in the modern world.
Book

The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village

Yunxiang Yan
TL;DR: In this article, a preliminary classification of the world of gifts is presented, along with a sketch of Xiajia village and a discussion of the relationship between the gift economy and Renqing ethics.