Familism
The Confucian view assumes that one’s life is inherited from one’s
parents as well as one’s ancestors, and that the lives of one’s offspring
are continuous with one’s own life, so the family is viewed as an
inseparable entity. This is the cardinal component of the ideology of
East Asian familism, which is dramatically different from the individu-
alism of Western culture originating from Christianity. In traditional
Chinese society, the family is the fundamental social unit with a very
tight structure, emphasizing the hierarchical order of seniority, age,
and sex (Cheng,1944; Hsu, 1967 ). It satisfies its members by serving
such functions as production, education, recreation, and religion
(Lang, 1946 ; Winch, 1966 ). As Chinese society has gradually trans-
formed from an agricultural society of mechanical solidarity to an
indust rial/comm ercial one of organi c solida rity (Du rkheim, 1984
[1933]), the Chinese family system has experienced drastic changes.
Family size has shrunk, the power distance between the dyadic roles in
the family has decreased, and many functions of the family have been
replaced by those of other social institutions. Nevertheless, most
Chinese still have a strong affective attachment to their families
(Yang,1988). The family is still highly valued and viewed as an
inseparable entity, and Chinese still tend to interact with their family
members according to the need rule.
Guanxinetwork
In addition to familism, Confucianism also includes a social philoso-
phy encouraging individuals to maintain harmonious relationships
with people outside their own families. Viewed from the conceptual
framework of Face and Favor, when individuals interact with rela-
tives, friends, or acquaintances within the network ofguanxi, they
must be polite and hospitable. According to the rule ofrenqing, when
an acquaintance encounters difficulties, one must behave as consider-
ately as possible and do favors for him as far as possible. By the same
token, when individuals receive favors from acquaintances, they must
remember to try to reciprocate.
The operation of aguanxinetwork might be either beneficial or
harmful to the operation of a firm or a state, depending on the
nature of resources involved in therenqingevent. A leader may utilize
guanxito solve many problems; in contrast, theguanxinetwork may
become a breeding-ground for nepotism, factionalism, and cliquism
in an institution.
Leadership theory of Legalism 125