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Cultural evolution over the last 40 years in China

Using the Google Ngram Viewer to study implications of social and political change for cultural values

Bibliographic Data

ID23329366
AuthorsRong Zeng (0009-0006-1183-5304, Department of Psychology Beijing Normal University Beijing China, corresponding author), Patricia M Greenfield (0000-0001-6861-5050, Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles, CA USA)
Year2015
Volume50
Issue1
Pages47-55
Publication date2015-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7594 • E-ISSN: 1464-066X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ijop.12125
PMID25611928
OpenAlexW1925304396
LanguageEN
Citations received105
References cited27

Chinese people have held collectivistic values such as obligation, giving to other people, obedience and sacrifice of personal interests for thousands of years. In recent decades, China has undergone rapid economic development and urbanisation. This study investigates changing cultural values in China from 1970 to 2008 and the relationship of changing values to ecological shifts. The conceptual framework for the study was Greenfield's (2009) theory of social change and human development. Changing frequencies of contrasting Chinese words indexing individualistic or collectivistic values show that values shift along with ecological changes (urbanisation, economic development and enrollment in higher education), thereby adapting to current sociodemographic contexts. Words indexing adaptive individualistic values increased in frequency between 1970 and 2008. In contrast, words indexing less adaptive collectivistic values either decreased in frequency in this same period of time or else rose more slowly than words indexing contrasting individualistic values.

China · Collectivism · Economic growth · Economics · Individualism · Obedience · Political science · Politics · Social change · Social science · Social value orientations · Sociology · Urbanization · Cultural Differences and Values · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works105
Citations per year9,55
Citation span2015 - 2026 (12)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 98
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