Culture and network institutions in Hong Kong: a hierarchy of perspectives. A response to Wilkinson: 'Culture, institutions and business in East Asia.'

Organization Studies, Spring, 1998 by Sid Lowe

Wilkinson generally dismisses the 'fifth dimension' and value studies by complaining that 'The problem is, the more one reads, the longer becomes the list of values identified by various authors as representing the essence of Confucianism' (Wilkinson 1996: 425). By way of contrast, another view is that there is also a remarkable consistency within social psychological studies of the essence of 'emic' neo-Confucian values and of phenomenological values generally (Lowe and Oswick 1996). The traditional influences on Hong Kong culture can be seen as a neo-Confucian combination of Confucian values or as a combination of the major 'religious' influences in Chinese culture - Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism (Schwartz 1994). Other perspectives, also concentrating on values, have been constructed by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961), Rokeach (1973), Sathe (1985), Schwartz and Bilsky (1987, 1990) and Schwartz (1992), which show some consistency in the identification of 'etic' values, as well as - in some studies - a clear identification of Chinese 'emic' values.

Wilkinson's next criticism of culturalists is to accuse them of accidental racism and a failure to adopt acceptable historical analysis. The former accusation suggests that the arguments of the culturalists can be interpreted [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] as supportive of arguments of ethnic Chinese superiority over the non-Mongoloid Asian races. I would argue that it is equally dangerous for social scientists to avoid avenues of investigation, on the grounds that politicians may exploit their work for unscrupulous purposes. Wilkinson sees traditional ethnic nepotism in modernist Western terms and cannot recognize from this ethnocentric position that the promotion of 'in-group' interests within traditional, collectivist, patron-client cultures is often regarded with alacrity as normal and expected, if not legitimate. The criticism of the political conservatism inherent in cultural approaches revolves around the concern that discussion of political economy is limited. This is, however, to be expected if one realises that historical politicism concerns the social domain, which is the vehicle for understanding the cultural domain, but not in itself the central problematic or focus of analysis for culturalists. This criticism can be upheld in considering modern Western industrial societies, but it may be that this reflects conditions and historical class divisions in the West which are not evident or constituted in the same form outside the Western milieu.

A theoretical dilemma identified by (Giddens 1989) concerns features of modern social development or the question of identifying the 'determining influences affecting the origins and nature of modern societies' (Giddens 1989: 703). This is of particular relevance to the examination of the cultural influences in East Asia upon successful economic activity, development, and business behaviour. In Giddens' theoretical dilemma, the question is whether the determining influences affecting the origins and nature of modern societies are economic (as advocated by Marxists) or non-economic (as advocated by Weber and non-Marxists). Within this context, it is clear that most functional sociologists and culturalists adhere more towards Weber's view. The problem with this dilemma in terms of Hong Kong is its inherent ethnocentricity, which is a reflection of the Western focus of both Marx and Weber, constitutes a Western political continuum founded upon Western philosophy and history. This leads to the desire to embark upon factual studies of the paths of development of modern societies and Third World countries, which 'help us assess how far patterns of change conform to one side or the other' (Giddens 1989: 710). This Western ethnocentric reasoning leaves little room for understanding the indigenous patterns of change outside Western historical and philosophical experience.