The Epistemological Goal of Indigenous Psychology.- The Modernization of Non-Western Societies: A Perspective of Constructive Realism.- Western Philosophy’s Concepts of Person and Paradigm Shifts.- The Construction of the Face and Favor Model.- The Deep Structure of Confucianism.- Paradigms for Studying Chinese Moral Thought：A Meta-theoretical Analysis.- Moral Thought in Confucian Society.- Confucian Relationalism and Social Exchange.- Life Goals and Achievement Motivation in Confucian Society.- Face and Morality in Confucian Society.- Guanxi and Organizational Behaviors in Chinese Societies.- Chinese Models of Conflict Resolution.
Kwang-Kuo Hwang obtained his PhD in social psychology at the University of Hawaii. He is currently National Chair Professor at National Taiwan University awarded by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, President of Asian Association of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology (2010- ),and National Policy Advisor to the President (2008- ). He has endeavored to promote the indigenization movement of psychology and social science in Chinese society since the early 1980s, and has published eight books and more than one hundred articles on related issues in both Chinese and English. He is past president of the Asian Association of Social Psychology (2003-2005), and was Principal Investigator of In search of excellence for indigenous psychological research project sponsored by the Ministry of Education, R.O.C. (2000-2008).
From the reviews:"Foundations of Chinese Psychology: Confucian
Social Relations is an English version of Confucian Relationalism:
Philosophical Reflection, Theoretical Construction, and Empirical
Research, published in Chinese in 2009. The 13-chapter book is
based on Kwang-Kuo Hwang’s previous published works, in particular,
the ideas he developed on Confucian relationalism as the foundation
of Chinese psychology. The centerpiece of this book is his
face-and-favor model, which he developed in 1987 and later refined
to be used as an exemplar in the epistemological development of
indigenous psychology in non-Western cultures (Hwang, 1995, 2000,
2006a, 2006b). Hwang argued for the adoption of a tripartite
approach to achieve the epistemological goal of indigenous
psychology, namely, philosophical reflection, theoretical
construction, and empirical research. Chapters 1–5 deal primarily
with philosophical reflection, whereas Chapters 6–12 demonstrate
theoretical construction and endeavors in empirical
research. Face-and-Favor Model: When the face-and-favor
model was first introduced (Hwang, 1987), it was intended to
explicate the structure of social exchange and social justice in
Chinese cultures. The model outlined four kinds of interpersonal
relationships.Expressive ties are stable and occur between members
of primary groups such as family and close friends and operate
according to the need rule. Instrumental ties are diametric
opposites of expressive ties and operate on the basis of the equity
rule. They are unstable and temporary, occurring between strangers
for the accomplishment of goals of common interests. Mixed ties lie
somewhere between expressive and instrumental ties and refer to
relationships between people who are known to each other. In mixed
ties, the allocation of resources follows therule of empathic
reciprocity. The fourth kind of relationship is the
vertical relationship between the petitioner and allocator of
resources, and it operates according to the rules of ritual
propriety.In a later work, Hwang (2000) introduced two important
concepts. First, he illustrated the respective application of the
Confucian tenets of ren (benevolence), yi (righteousness), and li
(propriety) in judging the expressive and instrumental components
of the relationship, determining the rule of social exchange, and
managing psychological conflicts. Second, he demonstrated how these
four types of interpersonal relationships correspond to the four
elementary forms of social behavior described by Fiske (1992),
namely communal sharing, equality matching, market pricing, and
authority ranking. For instance, in the Chinese culture, which is
characterized by Confucian relationalism, the petitioner and
allocator of resources in an in-group are bound by expressive ties
and are likely to observe the rules of communal sharing; in
individualistic cultures such as the United States, interpersonal
ties would tend to be instrumental, and social behavior would
similarly emphasize market pricing. Indigenous
Psychology: As an ardent proponent of the development of
indigenous psychology, Hwang has always contended that such
development should not adopt an inductive or bottom-up approach, as
the findings from such an approach are often too fragmented and
impossible to be understood by those from outside the culture.
Instead, he drew from the work of Shweder et al. (1998) to pinpoint
that the epistemological goal of indigenous psychology must follow
the principle of “one mind, many mentalities” (p. xiii). In other
words, the epistemological goal of indigenous psychology is to aim
at constructing a series of theories that “represents notonly the
universal mind of human beings, but also the particular mentality
of a people within a given society” (p. xiii). To achieve
this, Hwang suggested that a tripartite approach be adopted,
namely, philosophical reflection, theoretical construction, and
empirical research. This approach is elucidated in the evolvement
of the face-and-favor model, which started with a consideration of
the inadequacy of the Western presumption of individualism to
explain social behavior in non-Western cultures, such as the
Chinese. Theoretical construction then followed, in which the
presumption of individualism was replaced with the presumption of
relationalism in an attempt to create a body of knowledge in social
psychology that would more adequately explain and guide social
behavior in non-Western cultures. Metatheory analysis and
quantitative and qualitative research ensued to put the theory to
the test for its degree of approximation to the truth. Hwang’s
book embodies a detailed account of the manner in which the
tripartite approach guided the construction of a series of
theoretical models on Confucian relationalism in understanding
Chinese moral thought and moral judgment, social exchange, life
goals and achievement motivation, face and morality, guanxi
(relationship) management, and conflict resolution.Intended
Readership: Huang’s book is an important resource. First, it
reveals the construction of a series of theoretical models on
Confucian relationalism as foundations of Chinese psychology.
Second, it makes a valiant attempt at untangling the link between
individualism and universalism. Third, it challenges the relevance
of the presumption of individualism in the construction of theories
of social psychology for non-Western cultures, and it illustrates
through empirical research the relevance of the alternative
presumption ofrelationalism. Fourth, it demonstrates the wisdom of
adopting a tripartite approach of philosophical reflection,
theoretical construction, and research to achieve the
epistemological goal of indigenous
psychology. Foundations of Chinese Psychology: Confucian
Social Relations makes an invaluable contribution for students,
teachers, scholars, and researchers in the fields of Chinese
psychology and indigenous psychology."
Catherine Tien-Lun Sun, PsycCRITIQUES
September 5, 2012, Vol. 57, No., 35, Article 6
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
