Theories About and Strategies Against Hegemonic Social Sciences by Michael Kuhn Shujiro Yazawa

Author:Michael Kuhn, Shujiro Yazawa [Michael Kuhn, Shujiro Yazawa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Methodology
ISBN: 9783838267869
Publisher: ibidem
Published: 2015-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

Western Influence on Research Topics

Chinese indigenous psychology has introduced a host of new, "Chinese" concepts into psychological debates. Yet the organization into subdisciplines that is fairly standardized internationally also regulates research activities in indigenous psychology. The international reader will thus encounter traditional research topics, such as motivation, development, personality, child socialization, and others as familiar reference points. Subdisciplinary structures as well as their associated research fields and central concepts are apparently considered either as universal or at least as undisputable elements of academic psychology as such. Indigenous research is fitted into this general structure, and "Chinese" concepts mainly serve to describe local variants of internationally established topics. While this strategy is effective in achieving a synthesis of international scientific standards and adaptation to local conditions that makes it compatible with international psychological discourses, it also comes at a cost. Not only does it confirm the theoretical authority of the Western research framework but also makes the "West" the central reference point for all attempts to describe local "otherness." By concentrating on comparisons between "East" and "West," or—as it is frequently done—between China (or Japan) and the United States, psychological research replicates a questionable West-East dichotomy that perpetuates orientalist thinking patterns and ignores the existing heterogeneity within both "Western" and "Eastern" societies. Cross-cultural and indigenous psychology replicate Western stereotypes of the "collectivist," "interdependent," "relational," and "holistic" Chinese (or: Asian) that is contrasted with the "individualist," "independent," and "analytical" Westerner (Hofstede 1980, 2001; Marcus and Kitayama 1991; Nisbett 2005; Hwang 2012). In an attempt to describe the distinctiveness of Chinese cultural groups local authors resort to

these established categories and often promote heterostereotypes as autostereotypes. As a result, the picture of "the Chinese" or "the Asian" is often unduly homogenous and highly stereotypical, even in Chinese indigenous psychological research. The mechanisms that underlie these conceptual choices are subtle. Researchers from Western as well as Asian countries actively strive to overcome traditional representations that more often than not are unfavorable to Asian societies and to integrate the newly arising science communities into international dialogue. Integration, however, still seems to imply either to accept mainstream topics and theories, or to place "cultural" issues in the few niches that are granted and defined by mainstream science that wants to "open up" its research to cultural diversity (cf. also Kuhn and Weidemann 2010). Interest in "exotic" customs prestructures the field of indigenous psychology, and it can be assumed that research that fits Western stereotypical expectations finds more attention and acceptance with international editorial boards and conference committees and thus stands greater chances to be published or to be supported by grants. On the other hand, international attention is not the only factor that shapes the choice of research topics and concepts. Other factors include political preferences of researchers' home countries and tradition lines that have been created by the first generation of indigenous psychologists. In combination, these factors may explain why some cultural traditions (Confucianism) are given more weight in Chinese indigenous psychology than others (e.g. Daoism, whose influential rule is, e.

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