Applying cross-cultural values research to the Chinese [Elektronische Ressource] : a critical integration of etic and emic approaches / Steven Joe Kulich. Gutachter: Jürgen Henze ; Sigrid Blömeke ; Michael Harris Bond

Steven Joe Kulich

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• Publié par: humboldt-universitat_zu_berlin
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 15 Mo

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Applying Cross-Cultural Values Research to “the Chinese”:
A Critical Integration of Etic and Emic Approaches

D i s s e r t a t i o n
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grads
doctor philosophiae
(Dr. phil.)

Im Fach Erziehungswissenschaften

Eingereicht am 26. März, 2010
an der Philosophischen Fakultät IV der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

von Steven Joe Kulich
Master of Arts (Honors) in East Asian Studies (Chinese)


Präsident der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Christoph Markschies
Dekan der Philosophischen Fakultät IV
Prof. Dr. phil. Ernst von Kardorff

Gutachter-Gutachterinnen
1. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Henze
2. Prof. Dr. Sigrid Blömeke
3. Prof. Dr. Michael Harris Bond


Datum der Promotion: 08.07.2010



Applying Cross-Cultural Values Research to “the Chinese”:
A Critical Integration of Etic and Emic Approaches

(A Doctoral Dissertation in Two Volumes)

Volume 1:
The Historical, Disciplinary, and Conceptual
Landscape of Value Studies
(Chapters 1-6)

Volume 2:
Mixed-Method Approaches and Analysis of Chinese Values
(Chapters 7-12)

by
Steve J. Kulich
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
March 2010


Author’s Notes

The studies carried out and reported in this dissertation were made possible through several
research grants and stipends, each of which is gratefully acknowledged:

This research was conceptualized, initiated with initial data collection, and further
developed through the generous support of two grants from Resource Exchange
International, Inc., first through renewals of REI Project CHN-Kul-2-96 (The Shanghai
Chinese Values Project – SCVP), and continued under REI Project CHN-Kul-5-08/5 (New
Methods of Identifying Values Changes in Transition).

This dissertation grew out of, and was formally launched, during a timely “Research/Study
Leave Stipendium” through the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher
Akademischer Austausch Dienst), DAAD grant PKZ: A0706180/Ref.423 in cooperation
with, and under the supervision of, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Henze, Humboldt-Universität zu
Berlin, Institut für Erziehungswissenschaften (Abteilung Vergleichende
Erziehungswissenschaft).

The research reported here does not reflect the views of these organizations. The author bears full
responsibility for the contents, comments, and any errors made in this dissertation.


Stylistic Explanation

Modified APA Format

This dissertation follows APA sixth edition standards for citations and referencing, but departs in
three areas, adopting the conventions of European scholarly papers; (1) using the numbered outline
paragraph scheme (1.1, 1.1.1, etc.), all justified to the left margin, for the easier location of main
headings and sub-points; (2) using Footnotes instead of Endnotes (as these are more readily
accessible to the reader of a specific page in a large two-volume work); and (3) using the colon
format for page numbers instead of the US APA format (which would note pages as p. 193), a
style typical of works in European sociology and social psychology. Citations thus appear in these
volumes in this manner (e.g., Henze, 2008:193).
iii

iv

Dedication

to my students, past and present,

whose ideas, questions, suggestions,
insightful papers, and reference sourcing
stimulated me to start and keep working on this topic.
In this dynamic and developing Chinese context, the future
of values studies and intercultural communication is yours to further develop.

Acknowledgements

In conceptualizing this project, conducting this research, and writing this dissertation, I owe a
great debt to many people, and sincerely wish to thank all who have encouraged me in large and
small ways in this undertaking. Space will not permit the listing of all your names or each of the
specific things you did to help me move forward, but please know that I have not overlooked any
of the kindnesses shown or support extended.

Among many mentors, I want to specifically mention those who both inspired and helped frame
this undertaking as many as two decades ago. Wenzhong Hu, Yuxin Jia, and the founding circle of
the Chinese Association for Intercultural Communication have been a constant source of help and
encouragement as I have built on their model of interacting with and “Encountering the Chinese.”
The late L. Robert Kohls showed special interest in this project when we met at the inauguration of
the IAIR in Fullerton in 1998 and again in Shanghai in 2004, and his approaches to people and
culture, training exercises, love for, and commitment to understanding East Asia motivated me to
consider such an undertaking, as did the scholarly encouragements given by the publications and
persons of Michael Harris Bond and Shalom Schwartz. I hope these volumes offer a small and
somewhat satisfying tribute to the ongoing legacy of each.

v

I am particularly grateful for the mid-career opportunities, commitment to the intercultural field,
collegial support, and enthusiastic stimulation provided by my doctoral supervisor Prof. Jürgen
Henze – it has been a pleasure to work with him on all of the tasks related to this paper. I’m also
grateful for the support shown by his department, faculty, and institute team and consider it an
honor to have become part of the “Humboldtian” tradition.

This project could have never been developed, let alone been sustained, without the ongoing
support of my “academic home,” Shanghai International Studies University. To each of its leaders,
cooperating college deans, faculty members, and friends who have worked with and opened doors
for me to continue at SISU since 1993, I extend deep appreciation. Specifically, the time for
working on this could have never been created without the countless tasks handled by the SISU
Intercultural Institute’s able Research Administrator, Ms. Ruobing Chi, or without statistical
suggestions from research assistants Jia He and Xiaoming Wang, data map checking by intern
Zhibin Hong, or reference checking by Sang Ma and Jingqing Lin. To many others unnamed here
due to limits of space, I owe a great debt of thanks.

Finally and foremost, my heartfelt gratitude to Anne, my loving “sharer of dreams and realities,”
who has faithfully carried this commitment with me to seek to understand Chinese values and
society and sacrificially supported me in this quest all these years! And to my dear daughters, who
with grace and understanding adjusted to having a dad less available than they were used to or
desired, and are rejoicing that this process is completed. Together, each of us wholeheartedly
thanks Him who “has done all these things for us” (Isaiah 26:12).
vi

Abstract

A noted void throughout intercultural communication research is lack of a comprehensive
interdisciplinary review, a thorough contextually-sensitive understanding (in this case, Chinese),
or culturally-adapted application of values studies that is both based on, and can inform, leading
theories. This dissertation addresses these by; (1) mapping out and critiquing the varied historical
strands of Western values studies toward identifying candidates applicable to this project (Vol. 1,
Chaps 1-4); (2) documenting the long history of attempts to describe the uniqueness of “Chinese
values” and recent work to link studies in China with international theories (Vol. 1, Chaps 5-6);
then (3) considering methodological approaches potentially suited to improving this emic-into-etic
integration (Vol. 2, Chap 7, 9); and (4) carrying them out in eight multi-method qualitative and
quantitative studies toward analyzing and expanding the relevance of Schwartz’s “universal
theory” of values in “Chinese” contexts (Vol. 2, Chaps 8, 10-12).

To these ends, Volume 1 provides thorough documentation and analysis of values perceptions
across diverse disciplines, puts forward construct demarcations to disentangle the values concept
from related psychological domains, proposes a integrated set of value study critiques, and
provides a reassessment of tradition-modernity assumptions. In an attempt to integrate
frameworks, it then proposes that there may be multiple, co-existing value-cluster matrices in the
unique conditions of societies undergoing rapid change.

Volume 2 provides data-based application of these conclusions through six qualitative (N=79, 80,
85, 150, 375, 140 respectively) language and culture explorations (of terms, expressions, and
proverb/sayings) and quantitative treatment of 12 data sets, including indigenous open-ended
responses at the cultural (4 sets, total N=225) and individual levels (4 sets, N=267), as well as
multi-method and comparative measures on one set (N=87). These statistical studies employ
linguistic association, degree of fit procedures (on both raw and z-scores), and PROXSCAL MDS
(SSA) mapping of domains associated with Schwartz’s SVS. Results are then reanalyzed to
identify stable cultu