Collectivism
My Diary is blog Powered by Wordpress. Please subscribe to My Diary via the RSS Feed or Via Email.
Western visitors to Chines quickly notice that the rules of etiquette they bring with them do not always apply to the Chinese context. Etiquette is based on social values, and in order to understand Chinese etiquette, visitors need an understanding of one particularly Chinese social value, the value that anthropologists refer to as collectivism.
The easiest way to understand collectivism is to contrast it with individualism, a fundamental value in most societies of Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Societies based on individualism make individual rights the starting point for their value system. Societies based on collectivism, on the other hand, see the collective to thier own personal goals than to their society’s goal, while people who live in collectivist societies tend to consider their society’s goals more important than their own. A simple example of this can be seen tn the way a young person chooses a career. In an individualist society, people generally choose their careers according to their own interest and values. In a collectivist society, on the other hand, people will consider first the needs of their family and their society at large. When arguing with a parent about a career choice, a young person living in an individualist Western society might say, “it’s my life”. Young people living in a collectivist society would probably not thinj of making that statement, And if they did, it probably would not carry much weight!.
Chienese rules of etiquette reflect the Chinese collectivist perspective. Because the group is favored, people with good manners are those who do not try to stand out or seem special. For this reason, humility is highly prized. When Westerners pay Chinese people compliments, they are oftenh surprised by the fact that the Chinese people seem to reject the compliments. When an English teacher tells a Chinese stundent that her English is very good, the Chinese student usually diasgrees. If a dinner guest praises the food, the hostess might aplogize for not preparing, who believe it is polite to accept a compliment. From the point of view of people living in a collectivist society like China, however, accepting a compliment could show a lack humility.
For similar reasons, when people in China meet for the first time in a work situation, they do not usually tell each other their professional titles. While it would be common practice to say one’s title in Western countries, doing so in China might be interpreted as an attempt to appear important, a seriouse violation of the humality principle.
Collectivist values also discourage people from expressing their opinions too clearly. Gor this reason, Chinese people can be quite surprised and even shoced by Westerners who just “say what’s on their mind”. Group harmony comes first in a collectivist society, so directness and openness are not necessarily appreciated. Westerners, however, can intrpret the Chinese rulctance to share personal opinoans as a lack of honesty. And when Westerners freely express their personal opinions, they can seem self centered and arrogant to Chinese people.
Clearly, Chinese ideas about manners differ significantly from those in the West, and communication betwen Westerners and Chinese people can be challenging. With an effort on both sides, however, to understand that different behaviors reflect different values systems, interactions across culture can be relatively trouble free, and even enjotable.
