| This study explores the relationship between tradition and postmodernity under the theoretical framework of modernization and postmodernization.In terms of value change under the theoretical framework of modernization,there are two contending schools of thoughts.The convergence school argues that traditional values will gradually decline and ultimately will be entirely replaced by modern values.The persistence school argues that traditional values not only can persist in modern societies,but also can mix with modernity.Furthermore,the persistence school also argues that traditional values preserved in modern societies may help shape different formations of modernity and thus lead to "multiple modernities" in the world.Along the trajectory of modernization,in the 1960s,some scholars observed another phase of modernization in advanced industrial societies,namely,post-modernization.In the transition from modernization to post-modernization,Professor Ronald Inglehart found a value shift from so-called materialism to postmaterialism among people in Western advanced industrial countries.At first,Inglehart hypothesized that the same transition will take place in non-Western advanced industrial countries as well.However,when he examined the cultural transition in Japan,he found that Japan formed a distinct and complicated case because the emergence of postmaterialist values in Japan might partly be influenced by Japanese traditional cultural legacies.Therefore,Inglehart suggested that it was necessary to conduct more empirical study in non-Western societies to shed light on exactly how traditional values shape the emergence of postmaterialist values.As a deeply-rooted cultural tradition shared by East Asian countries such as China,Japan,South Korea and Singapore,which experienced modernization to varying degrees over the past few decades,Confucianism serves as a good case to examine value change theories and what kind of role traditional values play in the cultural transition towards postmaterialism in East Asian countries.Furthermore,such examination of Confucian values in the postmodern context has more theoretical significance.Firstly,nowadays,given the emergence of postmaterialism in East Asian countries,it is not only necessary to find modern Confucian values in the modern context,but also necessary to explore if Confucian legacies in today's East Asian societies can contain"post-Confucian values" in a postmodern context.Secondly,in terms of postmaterialist values,people in East Asian countries demonstrate particular preferences among certain postmaterialist values.It can be hypothesized that such preferences among certain postmaterialist values held by East Asian people may be influenced by Confucian legacies.And such Confucian legacies may lead postmaterialism to emerge in these countries in an East Asian way.Therefore,the examination of how traditional values shape the emergence of postmaterialism may help reveal if Inglehart's construction of materialism/postmaterialism is fully applicable in East Asian countries or whether there might in fact be "multiple materialisms"/"multiple postmaterialisms."This thesis attempts to make a contribution to both the development of Confucianism and the revision of Inglehart's construction of materialism/postmaterialism,by answering these research questions through empirical research conducted among educated youth in China and Singapore:(1)What role does Confucianism play as a mediating factor in the cultural transition from materialism to postmaterialism?In other words,can we excavate post-Confucian values in a postmodern context through the empirical interaction between Confucianism and postmaterialist values?(2)The uneven emergence of materialist values and postmaterialist values in China and Singapore implies that people of these countries have particular preferences for certain materialist values and postmaterialist values.Is it possible that such particular preferences are not shaped by people's hierarchy of needs but actually indicate the persistent influence of Confucian legacies in these countries?In order to apply the theories of value change and Inglehart's theory of postmaterialism in non-Western countries,the author conducted an empirical research on traditional Confucian values and postmaterialist values among well-educated youth in China and Singapore.Under the advice of my advisor,the author carefully designed a 36-question survey which includes both questions regarding postmaterialism and Confucian values.The survey targeted undergraduates from Nanjing University in China and the National University of Singapore.The targeted group was chosen because it tends to have above average level of postmaterialism.The survey was conducted in Nanjing University and the National University of Singapore in March 2016.Although the intention of this study is to explore if there is any correlation between postmaterialism and Confucianism,rather than to be a representative study that can describe how postmaterialism and Confucianism are distributed among all types of people,the survey still got a wide diversity of respondents.Moreover,to avoid possible influence caused by the ethnic backgrounds of respondents on their attitudes towards Confucianism,only the data of Han-Chinese undergraduates at Nanjing University and Chinese-Singaporean undergraduates at the National University of Singapore were included in the final analysis.The descriptive analysis and correlation analysis of all survey data were conducted using SPSS 21.0.In terms of traditional Confucian values in China and Singapore,the empirical result indicates that despite modernization,traditional Confucian values are not entirely replaced by modern values but still exert more or less influence on Chinese and Singaporean young respondents.Furthermore,modernization also reshapes some traditional Confucian values into more modern or even postmaterialist versions.In terms of postmaterialist values,empirical results demonstrate that postmaterialism is indeed emerging among well-educated young respondents in China and Singapore as expected.However,both Chinese and Singaporean respondents show particular preferences among certain postmaterialist values.For instance,the result indicates that Chinese and Singaporean respondents are more willing to pursue self-expression values in non-political spheres.Furthermore,the author also conducted bivariate correlation analysis between postmaterialism and Confucian values to examine the relationship between them.The results demonstrate that some Confucian values such as "benevolence" and "spiritual pursuit" have significant positive correlation with postmaterialism,while some Confucian values which imply obedience to authority and conformity have significant negative correlation with postmaterialism.Based on the empirical findings,the author gives some theoretical implications.In terms of "Post-Confucian Values",it refers to Confucian values that are still emphasized by people in postmodern society.According to the empirical findings,there are two Confucian values that have positive correlation with postmaterialism,namely,"benevolence" and "spiritual pursuit." The author considers that the positive correlation between Confucian "benevolence" and postmaterialism implies a probability that some traditional Confucian values could dovetail with some social thought in postmodernity and reflects the increasing emphasis on the return of value rationality in a post-modern world.In terms of "multiple materialisms/postmaterialisms",although the empirical findings did not fully corroborate the author's hypothesis,it does not imply that the hypothesis of multiple materialism/postmaterialism does not stand at all.On one hand,it may require more thorough surveys to examine if Confucian legacies cause people in East Asian countries to hold different preferences among certain materialist/postmaterialist values.On the other hand,besides Confucian legacies,there might be other cultural factors that cause people in East Asian countries to manifest different patterns of postmaterialist values from people in Western countries.One possible factor is the political culture or regime type of the countries where people live.For instance,Chinese and Singaporean respondents' disinclination to political participation might be influenced by the governments' restrictions on freedom of speech and the legacies of authoritarian rule.Therefore,it does not necessarily mean that these respondents do not want to express their opinions about politics,but given the current political environment,they may regard laying less stress on asking for more say in government decisions as a safe strategic retreat.Given the empirical finding that respondents' emphasis on self-expression values in the sphere of their everyday life is indeed increasing and their willingness to obey authority declining,it can be hypothesized that if the political environment becomes more relaxed in China and Singapore,they may extend their emphasis on self-expression values into the political sphere.Furthermore,according to Inglehart,the increase in emphasis on self-expression values can essentially facilitate democratic participation and thus promote democratic politics.Therefore,it implies that if Chinese and Singaporean youth gradually extend their self-expression values into the political sphere,it will cost more for the government to maintain their authoritarian governance.Another possibility is that regardless of the increasing awareness of self-expression values in the private sphere,Chinese and Singaporean people's disinclination to political participation might be a durable phenomenon shaped by other permanent values they hold.As the result of the question about whether people believe that some values are permanently true shows,both Chinese and Singaporean respondents strongly agree with this statement.In this sense,if Chinese and Singaporean people's disinclination to political participation is a durable phenomenon shaped by some values that they regard as permanent truth,even though postmaterialist values emerge in other spheres,it will not influence the evolution of political culture in these countries.Therefore,these countries will maintain some so-called materialist features and be cases of "multiple postmaterialism."... |
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