Keywords: family values, Confucianism, familism, individualism, family education
In English learning, understanding the culture of English-speaking countries is a very important part. This paper aims to analyze and compare the "family values" in different cultural backgrounds.
With the acceleration of economic globalization and modernization, people pay more and more attention to the liberation of human rights. As a new term, "family values" has become the research object of some professional scholars such as sociologists and psychologists, and has also become a topic of concern to teachers and parents. The dictionary defines "home" as: a person's parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters and other family members; Parents living together and their unmarried children; Descendants of the same person. The interpretation of "values" is: the common cognition and criterion of the importance of a certain value among people in a specific group. So "family values" means that people living in the same family accept and abide by a series of social, life and moral norms, and gradually form them.
As the most basic unit and social group, family is everywhere. However, due to the different social culture and environment, families in different regions also have different characteristics. When people talk about "family values", they always associate it with social and cultural background. Social change has a profound influence on the formation of family values in its environment. Every social environment has its own specific and unified "family values" system. Here we will introduce and compare China and the United States as examples. Including an overview of "China family values" and "American family values", how they came into being, their similarities and differences, and their mutual influence.
First, China's family values theory.
1. China family values.
In recent years, China has strengthened its communication with the world, and China's human civilization and China's extended family have gradually become known to the world. Since ancient times, China people have their own unique family value system. They put family and family first, and attach importance to the connection of the whole family and the feeling of living together. We call it familism. China's proverb says, "Home and everything prosper" and "Homelessness". China people value "family" more than anything else in their lives. "Home" is not only a residence, but also means the emotional connection and belonging between close people. Nowadays, people still believe in and value the ideas handed down from ancient times. For example, the elderly are the most respected: in a family, any old man is a teacher, and it is impolite for young people to disobey; Pursuing a happy, calm and uncontroversial life: everyone pursues a calm, happy and healthy life, while not attacking others or embarrassing others, and always being tolerant; Observe rules and distances: In ancient times, rules were tools for drawing circles, while moments were rulers for drawing right angles or squares. Now they often refer to standards, laws or ethics. In other words, everyone should strictly abide by the rules and be strict with themselves. Strong family values: China people have a strong sense of responsibility for their families. Everyone strives to maintain the smooth operation of the whole family and is proud of developing into a bigger family. The birth of future generations also means that they shoulder the heavy responsibility of making their families more prosperous.
2. The formation of China's family values.
(1) Ancient times.
In ancient times, China people lived on the banks of the Yellow River, and the natural environment made people work together to fight floods and develop agriculture. This initial civilized society with cooperation as the basic form was thus formed. Although people later formed independent families, people still could not work independently as a family because of their low productivity. The fruits of labor belong to the whole family, and the fate of a family is the fate of each member. Why do China people put family first? There are three main reasons: ① The economic form of individual private ownership determines that the family is a basic unit in the process of social production, and it cannot survive without it, while the family provides its members with a source of life. The self-sufficient natural economy limits most social activities to families. For people at this time, family is almost everything to them. (3) Home is a person's emotional and spiritual pillar. Huge family relationships bring great energy to family members. When a person's life is successful, the support and praise from his family directly bring him great pleasure.
(2) The influence of Confucianism on China's family values.
China's long history has created mysterious and diverse cultures. Among many great ideas, Confucianism has had a great influence on life, politics, education and personal code of conduct after more than two thousand years of development and precipitation. It should be said that China people's way of life can be seen everywhere in the shadow of Confucianism.
Confucius, founder of Confucianism, became the first private school teacher in China at the age of 50. He devoted himself to spreading the theory of good moral behavior and taught many disciples, who recorded his thoughts after his death and became the great philosophy of life that we are now familiar with. The government at that time gave him the highest honor and evaluation after his death, and his commandments and guidelines were written into law in 2 10 BC. The essence of his thought can be summed up in one word "benevolence". The closest meaning of the word "benevolence" should be "social morality" Kindness plays an irreplaceable role in promoting social harmony and peace. Modern China people call this idea the golden rule, which is usually expressed as "Do not do to others what you don't want others to do to you" and "Be kind to those who hurt me".
Confucianism has a profound influence on China people's attitude towards life and the whole social values, and it also provides a cultural background for politics and academics. Confucian moral thought includes righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faith and filial piety. When you have all these qualities, you are called a "gentleman". These moral principles have played a decisive role in the formation of the moral system of the whole country. For example, parents often tell young people to respect the elderly, who they think have rich life experience; Filial piety to elders, especially parents.
Second, American family values theory.
1. American family values.
Americans have inherited European cultural traditions, and at the same time, they are influenced by their traditional beliefs (Protestantism or Protestantism). The unique national culture has formed American family values. Americans don't have the family concept of "four generations under one roof" or the concept of obedience in China's traditional thought. They created a set of family values different from those of Asian and European countries. It can be summarized as: independence, personal power and equality. Independence: each member has the right to choose, and family members are independent and do not control each other; Personal power: Americans have a strong sense of rights, and every family member focuses on himself. No one can interfere with the date, place of residence, time of marriage, type of work, etc. Equality: Equality is related to individualism and self-realization. That everyone has the right to life, freedom and happiness. Americans believe that the inequality of rights and opportunities is different from the inequality of material resources. They stressed that every family member should enjoy the benefits and privileges enjoyed by others.