Family: East and West

Table One

Table Two

We have all heard that that Chinese culture is Confucian culture, and Confucian culture is filial, whereas Western culture, in contrast, is individual. Right?

Not so fast.

The World Values Survey asked respondents in China, Taiwan, Singapore, and America to rate the importance of family on a five point scale from “Very Important” to “Not Important at All”. I used the data sets from these countries from the latter part of the 90’s and/or the early part of the New Century. (Click Table One to enlarge)

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Guess what? Nearly everone in America thinks that family is “Very Important” -- 95%. Although “Very Important” is also the most popular answer in China, the level is only 70%.

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Why is this?

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One interesting pattern that stands out is Singapore, which is predominately Chinese but part of the Anglosphere. Filial concern there is at American levels (i.e., very, very high). In fact, if you look at a wide variety of Anglosphere counties -- Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand -- the levels are all above 90%. (Click Table Two to enlarge).

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Anglosphere beliefs are more profilial than Sinosphere ones (except where the two overlap).