AComparisonbetweenChinaandAmerica’sPoliticalCulturesonthePerspectiveofValueOrientation

宋卓航

How do we define political culture and how do we understand Chinese political culture and American culture？ Political culture is defined by the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences as“the set of attitudes，beliefs and sentiments that give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system”.Such kind of attitudes，beliefs and sentiments can be seen as the reflection of culture.A political culture is the result of both the collective history of a political system and the life histories of the members of the system and thus it is rooted equally in public events and private experience as well as the culture itself.China is a nation of long history.This makes China a nation of unique type of culture as well as its political culture even it has mixed with modern political principles The characteristics of Chinese political culture can be concluded as an extreme focus on morality and traditions，the fear on authority and powers as well as the respect for collectivism and social stability.Religion is only seen as a means of governing the nation，not the key issue that can impact on Chinese political culture.However，as a country without long and complicated histories，the political culture in America is quite different from that of China.The United States was born with puritan traditions，under the influence of liberalism.This makes America a country of religious beliefs，liberality traditions as well as individualism.The different political culture characteristics between China and America are a result of the culture difference between China and America.Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck defined culture patterns into five different aspects in their value orientation theory.The following three paragraphs will compare the differences between Chinese and American political cultures on human natures，time orientation and relational orientation on the basics of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's value orientation theory.

Chinese political culture and American political culture are different towards human nature according to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's theory.In the theory of value orientation，Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck defined humans as basically good，basically evil，or a mixture of good and evil.They classified humans into six different kinds：humans are evil but changeable，humans are evil and unchangeable，humans are neutral with respect to good and evil，humans are a mixture of good and evil，humans are good but changeable and humans are good and unchangeable.Under the influence of Puritanism，Americans inherited a view of human nature as evil but changeable.This kind of view makes a vigilance on the evil of human nature by the Americans，especially on the design of political institution of the United States.The political institution of America is seen a model of the separation of three powers.This kind of institution is designed under the guidance of both John Locker's political thoughts as well as Americans' Puritan tradition on human nature.The balance of three powers is designed to restrict the evil of human nature by constitution and various laws.This reflects Americans' view on human nature has deeply rooted in their political culture.What about Chinese political culture on human nature？ Chinese believe that man's nature at birth is good.Under the influence of Confucianism，Chinese preferred morality in their political culture.Thus Chinese pay less attention on the designing of institution in order to restrict the evil of human nature.Morality is put into the supreme position even the head rulers like emperors are restricted by it.Even today，the morality of a government officer is treated as important as his political achievement as well.Chinese government emphasized a combination of law and virtue in governing the country.This reflects Chinese view on human nature.By compare the different attitudes toward human nature，this paragraph has shown a difference between Chinese and American political cultures.

Finally，according to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's value orientation theory，by first comparing the difference on human nature，then time orientation before finally the relational orientation between Chinese and American political cultures，it can be concluded that China and America share a different type of political culture and these differences on political cultures reflected the uniqueness of the cultures between China and America.

References：

[1]Gudykunst，William B.and Young Yun Kim，Communication with Strangers：An Approach to Intercultural Communication （5th ed.），Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2007，pp.88-85.

[2]International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences，New York：Macmillen，1968，Vol.12，p.218.