Chapter One
A General Discussion and Evaluation of the Values of the Chinese
1. The Values and Their Appearance
What are values and their manifestations? From an academic perspective,it seems not difficult to answer this question. For those scholars who are engaged in theoretical research,they may easily find some rather academic definitions from the areas that they are proficient in,and can make an analysis of the definitions and quote the classics to support their arguments. Even for those scholars who were not familiar with this concept,they still can find a variety of explanations by consulting dictionaries or searching on the Internet. However,for the average people,especially the general public who do not specialize in research or are not used to acquiring knowledge from the Internet,the term “values” must be obscure and difficult to understand and be explained. If we simply define values by the use of a variety of definitions existing in different academic disciplines,for example,tell them “values” mean “the criteria that the subject applies for evaluating and choosing the objective things in accordance with their significance or importance to the subject itself and the society”（注：Encyclopedia of China·Psychology,Beijing：Encyclopedia of China Publishing House,1998,p.154.）,or “the criteria adopted by members of society to evaluate behaviors and matters,and to choose their desired goals among all a variety of possible targets”（注：Encyclopedia of China·Sociology,Beijing：Encyclopedia of China Publishing House,1998, p.113.）,or any other too academic definitions,it is certainly not easy for them to understand the true meaning of the concept. Ordinary people are different from scholars.They need the most concise,intuitive and succinct statement,because for them,they may even not try to carefully distinguish the nuances contained in various definitions of the concept,but just grasp the most straightforward explanation of some object. This is exactly the tastes and interests of the public,which is also the characteristic of the public in understanding a concept.
As a result,in order to make it concise and easily understandable and eliminate unnecessary academic debates and troubles in concept,we make some modifications to the definition of values that is most commonly used but still accurate,so as to popularize it as follows:
Values are the standards in people's minds,which represent the recognized value.With these standards,people can judge whether or not their own or others' words and deeds are important and accord with some of their own or universally recognized principles.
In simpler words,values are a standard for knowing and judging things. In our daily life,we often express our views on some certain things or objects,evaluating whether or not they are important,correct,reasonable,advisable,true,good and beautiful,and whether they are consistent with our wishes and principles. The intrinsic yardsticks of value adopted by us to make evaluation in these respects are values.
For example,when a young passerby jumps into the pond to rescue a child from drowning without hesitation,some people may say it is foolish of him to risk his life to rescue the child;some would believe he is very brave,kind,beautiful in heart,and worth praising; and some others may be indifferent about it and stand aside without making comments. These three different ways of evaluation represent three different values. No matter what kind of evaluation people make,they all compare the external things,objects,and behaviors with the standards of value inside their own mind,and then arrive at their own judgments. And no matter what kind of stance they take,they apply their personal values. But if the majority of people in the society or social institutions make a judgment on the behavior of the young people,then we say these people or social institutions are using the social values. In general,the values we talk about refer to the values of the majority of people in the society. Social values consist of individual values,but that is not to say they are equal to a hotchpotch of individual values,instead they are an organic and effective coupling of individual values,which are the unified and sublimated group values.
Values:BehaviorGuidance
Values are very important for both individuals and groups. Talcott Parsons,a famous American sociologist,believes that values can be regarded as a factor like a yardstick in a conventional symbolic system,according to which,people make their own choice among a variety of alternative courses of action under certain circumstances. The famous organizational behavior scientist Robbins also said: “Values usually affect the attitude and behaviors of a person.” “Values are very important for the study of organizational behavior,because they are the basis for the understanding of the attitude and motivation of employees. And they also have influence on our perception and judgment.”（注：Stephen Robbins, Organizational Behavior (7th Edition),Beijing: China Renmin University Press,1997,p.138.） Popularly speaking,values are just like a beacon that guides the individual and groups' actions and illuminate the road along which people make value judgments and value choices. They are also like a balance that is weighing equipment used to measure the value as well as the right and wrong of certain objects,events,persons or behaviors. Under the guidance of values,people,in the face of choices,will know what should and what should not be done,what is and what is not reasonable,what kind of behavior is and is not favorable,etc.Therefore,just from the values of a person,we are able to judge his thought,sentiment,belief and behavior and know what the important value pivot that supports him in making his own decisions is,as well as what kind of value he believes in and what standards he adopts. It goes without saying that under the guidance of different values,a person may like and approve a matter,appreciate and recognize a behavior,and support and help another person,or he may take a completely opposite decision,opposing,criticizing and resisting the same matter,behavior and person,instead. In brief,values are the intrinsic value that guides people to make choices and judgments,like the weights that control the direction and strength of the scales of the balance.
Scales of value
Since we have made clear about the importance of values,we still need to find out how values form. As regards this question,people may give different answers from different angles. For example,some people might say, “each place has its own way of supporting its own inhabitants”,that is to say,geographical factors play a decisive role in the formation of values; some may hold “culture is personality”,which means historical traditions and cultural factors play a dominant role in the formation of values; and some others would focus their attention on political,economic, or other factors,emphasizing their important role in the formation of people's values. In the field of research on modern social science,presently scholars' analysis of the formation of values tends to discuss it from the perspective of cultural anthropology and social psychology,which has almost become the most popular point of concern in the current interpretation of the issue of values. The researches on values from cultural anthropology and social psychology put emphasis on the analysis of people's psychological perception,emotional acceptance and moral acceptance of the outside world as well as the choice of personality. As a matter of fact,there are various factors for the formation of values,including not only the influence from parents,seniority,teachers and peers in family,social and school life,but also the influence from individuals' accumulation of knowledge,cultural concept and ideological inspiration,as well as factors such as ideology,policy and mechanism in political,economic and legal areas. It is impossible that one's values are formed only under the influence of one factor,or the effect of just a few factors. In conclusion,there are a variety of factors influencing the formation of people's values,and it may be that one aspect of factors playing a major role and other factors playing a supporting role. But in any case,the influencing factors of values are by no means unique and isolated,but pluralistic and diverse.
We have motioned that values are a “yardstick” of value in people's mind,consciousness and the bottom of their hearts. They are stationed in people's life,words and deeds,and rooted inside people's mind and soul,which are the pivot supporting people's value cognition,value choice and value judgment. In fact,values constitute the center of the system of people's thought and action like a kernel of value. Around this center,values extend from the inside to the outside in line with different levels,like concentric circles,and on each level,values can find the vehicles for support and expression,and manifest themselves by dint of these vehicles. Therefore,the manifestations of values are also varied. For example,what style of clothes a person likes and what kind of taste he prefers are all related with his values. Meanwhile,the values of a person manifested at the level of food,clothing,housing,transportation and other basic necessities of life are different from the values represented by what kind of books he prefers and what style of music he appreciates. The former is the value pursuit at the level of material life,while the latter is related to another level,that is,the level of spiritual life.
As far as a social individual is concerned,his values are fully reflected in his thoughts,words and actions,in his ways of understanding and dealing with various matters,as well as in his daily practice; and as for a social group,its language,literature,art,philosophy of politics,customs,religion,lifestyle,institutional decisions and so on,are all able to express its intrinsic values. In order to facilitate understanding,people tend to classify the various concepts embodied in these objects into different areas,such as political concept,economic concept,cultural concept and social concept,but the core of all these concepts is always the values that guide people to make choices and decisions. As a matter of fact,values are an intrinsic standard of value that is deep rooted in the heart of an individual or a group and manifests itself through external objects.However some of these external objects only show the appearance of values and fail to truly represent the long-term,constant and typical values of a group.It is just because of this that in many cases,only through an in-depth exploration and careful differentiation,can people truly understand the values of a group.