Confucian egalitarianism: gender-role attitudes of Chinese in Ireland
This study uses Mead’s theory of the social self to illustrate the formation of the mixed gender-role attitudes held by Chinese immigrant couples in Ireland. While the sampled Chinese developed a more liberal ‘I’ from acculturation to gender egalitarianism in Ireland and the emerging feminist cultur...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2024.2443557 |
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| Summary: | This study uses Mead’s theory of the social self to illustrate the formation of the mixed gender-role attitudes held by Chinese immigrant couples in Ireland. While the sampled Chinese developed a more liberal ‘I’ from acculturation to gender egalitarianism in Ireland and the emerging feminist culture in China, the ‘Me’ remained firmly family-oriented. The females experienced few changes in their social interactions with significant others and reference groups who continued to impose Confucian gender expectations on them. A flexible synthesis of ‘generalised others’ from the two cultural contexts was observed. On the one hand, the participants valued women’s autonomous choices in enacting gender roles; on the other hand, those choices were expected to be in line with the family’s interests. We name the pattern of their attitudes Confucian egalitarianism, a combination of beliefs in gender egalitarianism, critical essentialism and strategic familism based on Confucian family values. |
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| ISSN: | 2331-1886 |