Center for Confucian Science

Crisis of Cultural DNA

The Age of the Crisis of Cultural DNA

CULTURE OF VIOLENCE!
Copyright: Center for Dao-Confucianism
Thomas Hosuck Kang
1318 Randolph Street, NE
Washington, D.C.

     As a result of 35 years' research of the Confucian cultural zone which covers China, Japan, and Korea, a pattern of the Confucian cultural gene has been developed. Basically, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean societies were different as the Chinese was of large blood-related families, the Korean was of small blood-related families, on the contrary the Japanese was of non-blood-related families. Those original patterns are called cultural "gene". What is the gene? Biologically it is a function of hereditary unit, that is a small unit in a cell that causes special characteristics of the parents to pass on to the child. The term "cultural gene" here is an analogy of the biological gene in human behavior. The core of human behavior is the personality, that is the human relationships. The human relationships reflect the structure of a society, especially that of the family system. After these three societies assimilated Confucian cultural elements and their behavior became very similar to each other. However as their original cultural gene did not change, so their basic orientations of social behavior were different to each other. Thus the pattern of human relationships can be compared to the chemical molecular compound as shown below:

Five Human Relationships:

 

· FS: Father-Son (child) = PC: Parents and Children;

· HW: Husband-Wife;

· EY: Elder-Younger;

· FF: Friend-Friend;

· RS: Ruler (Political Authority)-Subjects (The People)

 

 

Comparative Personality Structures based on

The Five Human Relationships

 

 

     Chinese Confucian Personality                                     Korean Confucian Personality

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese Confucian Personality

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese pattern: PC (52%) + HW (17%) {inward} and EY (14%) + FF (7%) + RS (11%) {outward}

Japanese pattern: HW (30%) {inward} and PC (23%) + EY (3%) + FF (5%) + RS (38%) {outward}

Korean pattern: PC (43%) + HW (16%) + EY (16%) {inward} and FF (15%) + RS (11%) {outward}

 

Chinese society is inward and closed;

Korean society is more inward and closed than Chinese;

Japanese society is outward and open.

     The three societies are basically different. Nevertheless, it is very hard to tell the differences among the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean behaviors. Where this similarity among three societies comes from? The similarity of their behaviors is influenced by Confucian cultural gene. These five relationships determine each personality, eventually the cultural behavior by direct contact, by imitating usually the model behavior of parents and transmit and spread it in a society, thus develops the cultural gene of the family. This pattern changes according to the change of family structure. It is possible to introduce the basic concept of the transmittal formula of a cultural gene to other societies such as:

 

 

 

 

 

 

     This theory of Confucian cultural gene is, of course, peculiar to the Confucian culture. However, as a universal phenomena it can be applied to any other society, e.g. American society. Let us examine the structure and function of the individualistic American family system. In the individualistic and religious frame work of the family, grandparents, parents and their children live and work together in the traditional society. However, as society changes, this structure of the family also changes. Typically in the modern family, the unit of the family consists of father, mother and children. The father and mother are the model transmitter of the cultural gene to their children. In the industrial society the father goes to work outside home to support his family members. One man alone cannot afford to support many children and satisfy their demand. Thus the concept of the nuclear family began to prevail: husband, wife and one or two children in a family. Now mother does not have much to do at home, and intends to work outside of the family. The typical American present family has lost the transmitter of the cultural gene to their children. The lonely children left by themselves. They have to struggle by themselves to survive.  They expose themselves to uncritical mass culture. As they are yet too young to distinguish good and bad, they accept whatever they see, hear, eat and drink without discrimination. They become CHILDREN OF POLLUTION in the free society! Who are responsible for these children?

     "The radical decline in fertility worldwide continues, and radical it is," says Charles Krauthammer. In the so-called developed countries, the rate has fallen from 2.8 children per woman in the early 1950's to 1.5 nowadays. Even in the third world, it has fallen from 6 to 3. It will be soon one family one child! What the result will be? Krauthammer predicts, "Social disaster: children with no blood relatives but their parents; no brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins," All alone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     It is very interesting to contrast the two extreme cultural societies between North Korea and America. See the summary of "Why the North Koreans Behave as They Do?" in Confucian publications section.