What is the difference between the Western social group pattern and the traditional Chinese social differential order pattern?

The differences are as follows:

Difference 1: Clear group-self boundaries vs. fuzzy group-self boundaries

In the group pattern, the group-self boundaries are clearly defined, and there can be no ambiguity as to who is in the group and who is outside the group.

Differential order patterns, group-self boundaries are blurred, and the social network is rich in scalability.

For example, the family in the Western world is a well-defined group consisting of a husband and wife and minor children. In China, the word "family" is the most flexible, and "self-family" can include anyone who wants to be included in one's circle and show affection.

Difference 2: Independence vs. interdependence

The group pattern is characterized by clear boundaries between people, who are more independent of each other.

In the differential pattern, the boundaries between people are blurred, and people are interdependent, especially those who are related by blood. This relationship contains indoctrination power.

For example, the Western family group is a reproductive community, in which the husband and wife are the main axis, and the husband and wife **** together to run the reproductive affairs, and the children are the supporting roles in this group, and they leave the group when they grow up. The rights and obligations of social roles are clear.

The Chinese family is clan-based, a community of continuous endeavor. The main axis is between father and son, between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, vertically, with husband and wife as the matching axis. The parent-child relationship creates a situation in which the parents are greatly invested in and supportive of their children, while at the same time the parents have a great deal of involvement in their children's lives.

Difference 3: Concurrent vs. Human Differences

The group pattern is the same for each member.

In the pattern of differential order, ghosts and gods, rulers and ministers, fathers and sons, nobility and inferiority, affinity, titles and rewards, husband and wife, government, elder and younger, upper and lower, do not lose their relationships.

For example, in the West, the church has taken individuals out of their families and drawn them into groups in which they are all equally God's people, and blood ties have become relationships of the laity. In China there are few situations where fathers and sons can be on an equal footing.

Difference 4: Rule of Law vs. Ritual Rule

The norms by which order is maintained in a group setting are laws. The law restricts people from the outside, and the penalties received for not obeying the law are imposed on people by a specific authority.

In the differential order pattern, the norm that maintains order is "ritual". Ritual is not enforced by an external power, but rather, it is an indoctrination that develops a sense of reverence in the individual, which is obeyed by the person, who obeys the ritual on his own initiative.