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Greater Self, Lesser Self: Dimensions of Self‐Interest in C hinese Filial Piety
Author(s) -
Barbalet Jack
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal for the theory of social behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.615
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5914
pISSN - 0021-8308
DOI - 10.1111/jtsb.12037
Subject(s) - filial piety , self , self interest , ideology , context (archaeology) , sociology , social psychology , psychology , gender studies , political science , politics , law , history , archaeology
While self‐interest is depreciated in Confucian ethics the processes of family relations in traditional C hina are animated by the self‐interested actions of family members. The paper outlines the Confucian ideology of filial piety which is commensurate with the governance of family life organized hierarchically and through the senior male's management of the joint‐family's collective property. The structure, operations and principles of membership in traditional C hinese families are indicated, highlighting the tensions within them between consanguinity and conjugality and their material bases. The differential operation of self‐interested actions by husbands and wives is also presented. A non‐ C onfucian model of the relational‐self is outlined in which both the collective context of C hinese families and the self‐interested actions of individual family members within them is explicated.