How Does a Historical System of Meaning Weigh on the Present? Social Representations of Confucianism and Their Role in Young Chinese Lives in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The present study focuses on a new type of social representation: the historical system of meaning embodied by the philosophy and lifeways of Confucianism. Eighteen young and educated Chinese were interviewed face-to-face. Thematic analyses of their transcripts showed that Confucianism representations contained two subthemes, figures (Confucius and Mencius) and thoughts (e.g., propriety and benevolence, etc.). These representations were transmitted by formal education from school and informal education from family, and the influence of Confucianism was often implicit, as evidenced by two subthemes: self-cultivation and social norms. The analyses also showed that almost everything mentioned about Confucianism was more than 2,000 years old and more recent developments were ignored. These results provide insight into how a historically central system of meaning is represented today, when it has lost its institutional bases. It is argued that the social representation of Confucianism is fragmented rather than hegemonic and lacks the systematic coherence that characterises a historical charter. Contributions to social representations theory and implications for how Confucianism could function in the modern world are discussed.