"Asian-Values" Discourse and the Resurrection of the Social

Abstract

The relationship between modernization & the concept of Asian values is investigated. Six central values to Confucian ideology are identified: hard work, import of education, pragmatism, devotion to family, self-discipline, & collectivism. It is contended that Western scholarly analysis of Asian values, particularly similarities between Western & Confucian ideologies, has resulted in the perception of Asian capitalism as merely emulating & continuing Western bourgeois culture. Nevertheless, it is asserted that the value of collectivism is absent in Western culture & located at the center of Asian values. By emphasizing the discursive aspects of collectivism, the deletion of "Asian" from Asian values is attempted. Such a project is viewed as privileging social relations over the notion of individualism advocated by global capitalism. Two movements in contemporary Singapore - the socialization of land & the public financing of remedial education - are discussed to demonstrate the government's rejection of individualism. J. W. Parker.