Chinese social identity and inter-group relations: The influence of benevolent authority

Abstract

The articulation of a contemporary perspective on Chinese social identity and inter-group relations requires integration of three basic strands of knowledge: interdependent and independent selves from cross-cultural psychology; social identity and self-categorization from inter-group psychology; and historical analysis, weaving these strands of influence into the context of Chinese culture and its evolving indigenous psychology. This article reveals that with the onslaught of Western imperialism over the last two centuries, traditional Chinese civilization collapsed and traditional Chinese virtues came to be understood as flaws by leading Chinese intellectuals and their political rulers. Using a representational and historically contingent approach to social identity and inter-group relations, this article argues that the ethical and relational origins of traditional Chinese social identity enable culturally unique predictions about how Chinese people manage cultural diversity and international relations today.