IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/psydev/v33y2021i1p73-102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Does a Historical System of Meaning Weigh on the Present? Social Representations of Confucianism and Their Role in Young Chinese Lives in the People’s Republic of China

Author

Listed:
  • Tian Xie
  • Jue Zhou
  • James H. Liu
  • Can-can Liao

Abstract

The present study focuses on a new type of social representation: the historical system of meaning embodied by the philosophy and lifeways of Confucianism. Eighteen young and educated Chinese were interviewed face-to-face. Thematic analyses of their transcripts showed that Confucianism representations contained two subthemes, figures (Confucius and Mencius) and thoughts (e.g., propriety and benevolence, etc.). These representations were transmitted by formal education from school and informal education from family, and the influence of Confucianism was often implicit, as evidenced by two subthemes: self-cultivation and social norms. The analyses also showed that almost everything mentioned about Confucianism was more than 2,000 years old and more recent developments were ignored. These results provide insight into how a historically central system of meaning is represented today, when it has lost its institutional bases. It is argued that the social representation of Confucianism is fragmented rather than hegemonic and lacks the systematic coherence that characterises a historical charter. Contributions to social representations theory and implications for how Confucianism could function in the modern world are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Tian Xie & Jue Zhou & James H. Liu & Can-can Liao, 2021. "How Does a Historical System of Meaning Weigh on the Present? Social Representations of Confucianism and Their Role in Young Chinese Lives in the People’s Republic of China," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 33(1), pages 73-102, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:psydev:v:33:y:2021:i:1:p:73-102
    DOI: 10.1177/0971333621990452
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0971333621990452
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0971333621990452?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pi-Chi Han, 2013. "Confucian Leadership and the Rising Chinese Economy," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 107-127, March.
    2. Cynthia Ho & Kylie Redfern, 2010. "Consideration of the Role of Guanxi in the Ethical Judgments of Chinese Managers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(2), pages 207-221, October.
    3. Po Ip, 2009. "Is Confucianism Good for Business Ethics in China?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 463-476, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. James H. Liu, 2021. "Introduction to Confucian Psychology: Background, Content, and an Agenda for the Future," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 33(1), pages 7-26, March.
    2. Sheehan, Helen, 2023. "Bring your support team with you: The role of family and friends in supporting the motivation of international secondary students," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    3. Dharm P. S. Bhawuk, 2021. "Building Cultural Bridges Between China and India," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 33(1), pages 103-120, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuo-Wei Lin & Kai-Ping Huang, 2014. "Moral judgment and ethical leadership in Chinese management: the role of Confucianism and collectivism," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 37-47, January.
    2. Martin Obschonka & Mingjie Zhou & Yixin Zhou & Jianxin Zhang & Rainer K. Silbereisen, 2019. "“Confucian” traits, entrepreneurial personality, and entrepreneurship in China: a regional analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 961-979, December.
    3. Irene Chu & Mai Chi Vu, 2022. "The Nature of the Self, Self-regulation and Moral Action: Implications from the Confucian Relational Self and Buddhist Non-self," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 245-262, September.
    4. Fuan Li & Mike Chen-ho Chao & Nancy Yi-feng Chen & Sixue Zhang, 2018. "Moral judgment in a business setting: The role of managers’ moral foundation, ideology, and level of moral development," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 121-143, March.
    5. Irene Chu & Geoff Moore, 2020. "From Harmony to Conflict: MacIntyrean Virtue Ethics in a Confucian Tradition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 221-239, August.
    6. Chen, Shihua & Chen, Yulin & Jebran, Khalil, 2021. "Trust and corporate social responsibility: From expected utility and social normative perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 518-530.
    7. Shiang-Min Meng, 2019. "The Ancient Confucian of Analects to Todays Moral Criteria of Maritime Leader in Taiwan," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(1), pages 66-73, January.
    8. Jebran, Khalil & Chen, Shihua & Ye, Yan & Wang, Chengqi, 2019. "Confucianism and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    9. Ruixin Su & Weizhou Zhong, 2022. "Corporate Communication of CSR in China: Characteristics and Regional Differences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Peixu He & Zhenglong Peng & Hongdan Zhao & Christophe Estay, 2019. "How and When Compulsory Citizenship Behavior Leads to Employee Silence: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on Moral Disengagement and Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 259-274, March.
    11. Lee, Jihyun & Lee, Yuri, 2015. "The interactions of CSR, self-congruity and purchase intention among Chinese consumers," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 19-26.
    12. Liu, Haiming & Chiang, Yao-Min, 2022. "Confucianism and IPO underpricing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Liu, Elaine M. & Meng, Juanjuan & Wang, Joseph Tao-yi, 2014. "Confucianism and preferences: Evidence from lab experiments in Taiwan and China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 106-122.
    14. Sven Horak, 2018. "Join In or Opt Out? A Normative–Ethical Analysis of Affective Ties and Networks in South Korea," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 207-220, April.
    15. Xixiong Xu & Lingling Duan & Youliang Yan, 2019. "The Influence of Confucianism on Corporate Environmental Investment: Evidence from Chinese Private Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-20, October.
    16. Lu-Ming Tseng & Yue-Min Kang, 2015. "Managerial Authority, Turnover Intention and Medical Insurance Claims Adjusters’ Recommendations for Claim Payments," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 40(2), pages 334-352, April.
    17. Indra Abeysekera & Feng Li & Yingjun Lu, 2021. "Financial disclosure quality and sustainability disclosure quality. A case in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-20, May.
    18. Xiaoyi Liu & Zhenzhong Ma & Dapeng Liang, 2019. "Personality Effects on the Endorsement of Ethically Questionable Negotiation Strategies: Business Ethics in Canada and China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-19, June.
    19. Hongfeng Sun & Meng Yang & Lidan Li & Chang Liu, 2023. "Corporate Charitable Donations, Earnings Performance and Tax Avoidance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    20. Angela J. Xu & Raymond Loi & Hang-yue Ngo, 2016. "Ethical Leadership Behavior and Employee Justice Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Trust in Organization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 493-504, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:psydev:v:33:y:2021:i:1:p:73-102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.