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6.8: Confucian and Other Cultural Foundations

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    324876
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    Despite the myth’s harm, it draws upon a distorted version of real cultural values present in many (but not all) East Asian-origin communities. These can be traced to philosophical traditions like Confucianism, which emphasizes filial piety (xiao), educational achievement, hard work (努力), and humility (Tu 1998). The high value placed on education is not merely instrumental but is deeply tied to family honor and obligation (Louie 2004). Similarly, concepts of interpersonal harmony and collective well-being often influence communication styles, favoring indirectness and saving “face” over direct confrontation.

    It is critical, however, to avoid cultural essentialism—the belief that some groups of people share fixed, inherent and unchanging characteristics, or essences, based upon race, ethnicity, or nationality. Instead, these values interact with class resources and modes of incorporation that can produce an array of diverse outcomes (Portes and Rumbaut 2014). For example, the high educational outcomes of the children of Indian tech migrants are as much a product of their parents’ pre-existing high human capital and favorable U.S. immigration policy as they are of any “cultural” predisposition to education.


    6.8: Confucian and Other Cultural Foundations is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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