Comparing Cultures World Surveys and East Asian Surveys Henk Vinken www'henkvinken'nl

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Comparing CulturesWorld Surveys and East Asian
SurveysHenk Vinkenwww.henkvinken.nl
Invited Lecture Chuo UniversitySeptember 19,
2008, Tokyo, Japan
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Vinken, H. (2007). Religion and traditional
values in East Asia. Exploring five comparative
values surveys in East Asia. Working paper for
School of Sociology, Kwansei Gakuin University,
Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan. Vinken, H. (2006).
East Asian Values Surveys. Making a case for East
Asian-origin values survey concepts. Mannheim
ZUMA (ZUMA Arbeitsbericht 2006/05 ISSN
1610-4110). Four chapters in P. Ester, M. Braun
P. Mohler (Eds.) (2006), Globalization, value
change, and generations. A cross-national and
intergenerational perspective. Leiden Boston
Brill (ISBN-13 978-90-04-15217-7 ISBN-10
90-04-15217-3) (Series European Values Studies,
Vol 10. ISSN 1568-5926). Vinken, H. (2005).
Western bias in the sociology of religion.
Universalist discourses in sociology and
particularist indicators in four key surveys.
Working paper for School of Sociology, Kwansei
Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan
(Download is a revised version submitted to an
international social science journal October
2006). Vinken, H., J. Soeters P. Ester (Eds.)
(2004). Comparing cultures. Dimensions of culture
in a comparative perspective. Leiden Boston
Brill (ISBN 90-04-13115-9) (Series International
Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology,
Vol. 93 ISSN 0074-8684).
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OutlineWorld SurveysPolitical DomainCarte
Blanche LeadershipConclusions
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World Surveys

• Values Latent, unobservable constructs of what
  is regarded a desirable state of affairs over
  against another state of affairs Guiding
  principles for action influence the selection
  of modes, means, and ends of action
• Stable and durable do not disappear when
  situation changes (lt-gt attitudes, opinions,
  etc.) Most ideal to compare cultures (over
  time)

Famous contemporary global values surveysWVS,
World Values SurveySVS, Schwartz Values
SurveyISSP, International Social Survey
ProgrammeNES, National Election
StudiesEtc. Fielded in many (East) Asian
countries !
Most contemporary global values surveys concepts
and methodologies are of Western-origin
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World Surveys
Most contemporary global values surveys concepts
and methodologies are of Western-originBias
going in two waysGeert Hofstede, 2007 Issues
prominent in the researchers culture but not
necessarily relevant to the respondents will be
included, and issues crucial in the respondents
culture but not in the researchers may be
overlooked. If global values surveys are
Western, then do we measure and compare Western
values or desired states of affairs only?
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Political Domain
PoliticsWhich values relevant in and originating
from East Asia? Key wordsConfucianism working
for the good of the family, assuring material
well-being, and virtuous leadership (including
perseverance and sacrifice) rule by talented AND
benevolent elite with carte blanche leadership
(dependence public who expect services).
Legalism expecting and accepting strong state
that addresses all needs. Assuring mutual
(material) benefits versus personal trust. High
network capital/strong support organisations tied
to authorities. EvidenceWestern scholars
celebrate universal nature of liberal democracy,
individual rights and independent civil society.
Global values studies focus on personal trust,
voter turn-out, partisanship, the good citizen
and civil society separated from state/business
sector.
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Many Western scholars - accept inevitable
democratic future -- emphasis on absolute nature
of values -Few ask - can own ideas be
enriched by non-Western ones? -
Political Domain
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Classic non-Western, alternative model-
confucianism and legalism -- rule by virtuous,
benevolent elite -- expect/accept strong state
institutions - Leadership based on
unconditional and unanimous dependence of rank
and file on their leader with the general
expectation that services will be rendered on
their behalf by their leader(Ikeda and Richey,
2005)
Carte Blanche Leadership
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Culture- or political-reality-hypothesis?Cultur
e hypothesis- traditional East Asian values
-Political reality hypothesis- opportunity
structure -
Carte Blanche Leadership
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East Asian and Western surveysMany issues of
question wording- concept equivalence -Carte
blanche leadership- AB decisions by experts
they think best for ctry - - WVS experts not
gov. decide they think best for ctry -- AnB
various items (see next) - EAVS improve ctry
if leave all to leaders, iso. people discus -
ISSP no cbl-items -
Carte Blanche Leadership
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East Asian and Western surveysAnB, Asian
Barometer cbl-items (1 factor)- gov. leaders
like family, follow their decisions -- gov.
decide if ideas be discussed in society --
judges in imp. cases accept view executive branch
-- get rid of parliament/elections, have experts
decide -- gov. checked by legislature cannot
accomp. great things -
Carte Blanche Leadership
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East Asian and Western surveysOrder in East
Asian countries/cities- AB China, South Korea,
Japan -- AnB China, South Korea, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Japan -- EAVS Kunming, Beijing, Taiwan,
Hangzhou, Shanghai,Hong Kong, Singapore, South
Korea, Japan -- WVS Japan, South Korea, China,
Singapore -Order in terms of diversifying
power- AnB, AB, EAVS, WVS -- eta2 0,19, 0,05,
0,03, 0,02 -
Carte Blanche Leadership
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Culture, situation or generation?Generational
cleavages in cbl only in- AB none -- AnB
Hong Kong (1970 opposes) -- EAVS Kunming
(1970 opposes) -- WVS Japan (1970 supports)
-Cleavages if- significance p -0,05 ánd eta2
0,05 -- in all other cases generations similar -
Carte Blanche Leadership
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Culture, situation or generation?1) Generation
(demo) 2) situation (country) 3) culture
(values)- AB country -- AnB country,
culture, education -- EAVS country, generation,
education -- WVS generation, education
-Conclusion- most likely political reality
hypothesis at work -- yet, culture hypothesis
cannot be rejected -- preservation and harmony
values important -
Carte Blanche Leadership
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1) Carte blanche leadership - a
multidimensional concept (AnB) -2) Info on
country/city of origin most important- proxy
political reality, opp. structures, traditions,
regimes -3) Culture important too-
preservation and harmony means acceptance unequal
relationships, conflict-avoidance, conformity
with expert-rule -
Conclusions
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4) Generational cleavages least relevant-
disappear when entering country info -- yet,
modestly return after entering culture (AnB) --
1970 cohorts more supportive to clb -5)
Western concepts in WVS and AB least helpful-
expert rule no antagonism of gov. rule -- false
conclusion that values do not matter -- that clb
is matter of demographics (individual traits) -
Conclusions