Skip to main content

Confucian Social Media: An Oxymoron?

Dao volume 12, pages 283–296 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

International observers and critics often attack China's Internet policy on the basis of liberal values. If China's Internet is designed and built on Confucian values that are distinct from, and sometimes incompatible to, liberal values, then the liberalist critique ought to be reconsidered. In this respect, Mary Bockover's “Confucian Values and the Internet: A Potential Conflict” appears to be the most direct attempt to address this issue. Yet, in light of developments since its publication in 2003, it is time to re-examine this issue. In this paper, I revisit Bockover’s argument and show why it fails. Using social media as an example, I offer an alternative argument to show why the Internet remains largely incompatible with Confucian values. I end this paper by suggesting how to recontextualise the Confucian way of life and to redesign social media in accordance to Confucian values in the information society.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Albrechtslund, A. 2008. “Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance.” First Monday [Online] 13. 3. March 2, 2008

  • Bakardjieva, M., & Gaden, G. 2011. “Web 2.0 Technologies of the Self.” Philosophy & Technology. DOI: 10.1007/s13347-011-0032-9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, S.B. 2006. “A Privacy Paradox: Social Networking in the United States.” First Monday [Online] 11. 9. September 4, 2006.

  • Beer, D., & Burrows, R. 2007. “Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations.” Sociological Research Online 12.5. September 30, 2007. Available Online at: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/5/17.html

  • Bell, D., Loader, B.D., Pleace, N., & Schuler, D. 2004. Cyberculture: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bockover, M. 2003. “Confucian Values and the Internet: A Potential Conflict.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 30.2: 159–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • _____. 2010. “Confucianism and Ethics in the Western Philosophical Tradition I: Foundational Concepts.” Philosophy Compass 5.4: 307–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • boyd, d. 2010a. “Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications.” In Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites. Ed. by Z. Papacharissi. New York: Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 2010b. “Social Steganography: Learning to Hide in Plain Sight.” Digital Media and Learning Blog, August 23, 2010. Available Online at: http://dmlcentral.net/blog/danah-boyd/social-steganography-learning-hide-plain-sight

  • Boyd, d., & Ellison, N.B. 2008. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13: 210–230.

  • Brey, P. 2010. “Values in Technology and Disclosive Computer Ethics.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Ed. by L. Floridi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, J. 2002. “Moral Autonomy, Civil Liberties, and Confucianism.” Philosophy East and West 52.3: 281–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clinton, H. 2010. “Internet Freedom.” Foreign Policy, January 21, 2010. Available Online at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/01/21/internet_freedom

  • Dahlberg, L. 2010. “Cyber-libertarianism 2.0: A Discourse Theory/Critical Political Economy Examination.” Cultural Politics 6.3: 331–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ess, C. 2010. “The Embodied Self in a Digital Age: Possibilities, Risks, and Prospects for a Pluralistic (Democratic/Liberal) Future?” Nordicom Information 32.2/3: 105–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan, R. 2010. Reconstructionist Confucianism: Rethinking Morality after the West. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. 2010. “Social Software and Web 2.0: Their Sociological Foundations and Implications.” In Handbook of Research on Web 2.0, 3.0, and X.0: Technologies, Business, and Social Applications, Vol. II. Ed. by S. Murugesan. Hershey, PA: IGI-Global.

  • Fuchs, C., Hofkirchner, W., Schafranek, M., Raffl, C., Sandoval, M., & Bichler, R. 2010. “Theoretical Foundations of the Web: Cognition, Communication, and Co-operation: Towards an Understanding of Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0.” Future Internet 2.1: 41–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hull, G., Lipford, H.R., & Latulipe, C. 2011. “Contextual Gaps: Privacy Issues on Facebook.” Ethics and Information Technology 13.4: 289–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Introna, L. 2008. “Phenomenological Approaches to Ethics and Information Technology.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition). Ed. by E. Zalta. Available Online at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/ethics-it-phenomenology/

  • Kim S. 2009. “Self-Transformation and Civil Society: Lockean vs. Confucian.” Dao 8: 383–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • _____. 2010. “Beyond Liberal Civil Society: Confucian Familism and Relational Strangership.” Philosophy East and West 60.4: 476–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • _____. 2011. “The Anatomy of Confucian Communitarianism: The Confucian Social Self and Its Discontent.” The Philosophical Forum 42.2: 111–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Light, B., & McGrath, K. 2010. “Ethics and Social Networking Sites: A Disclosive Analysis of Facebook.” Information Technology & People 23.4: 290–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y. 2004. “The Self and Li in Confucianism.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 31.3: 363–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallan, K., & Giardina, N. 2009. “Wikidentities: Young People Collaborating on Virtual Identities in Social Network Sites.” First Monday [Online] 14.6, June 1, 2009.

  • Nuyen, A.T. 1999. “Chinese Philosophy and Western Capitalism.” Asian Philosophy 9.1: 71–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O'Reilly, T. 2005a. “What is Web 2.0.” O'Reilly Media, September 30, 2005. Available Online at: http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html

  • ____. 2005b. “Web 2.0: Compact Definition?” O’Reilly Radar, October 1, 2005. Available Online at: http://radar.oreilly.com/2005/10/web-20-compact-definition.html

  • Papacharissi, Z., & Gibson, P.L. 2011. “Fifteen Minutes of Privacy: Privacy, Sociality an Publicity on Social Network Sites.” In Privacy Online: Theoretical Approaches and Research Perspectives on the Role of Privacy in the Social Web. Ed. by L. Reinecke & S. Tepte. New York: Springer

    Google Scholar 

  • Sim, M. 2004. “A Confucian Approach to Human Rights.” History of Philosophy Quarterly 21.4: 337–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slingerland, E., trans. 2003. Confucius Analects: with Selections from Traditional Commentaries. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co.

  • Song, F.W. 2010. “Theorizing Web 2.0: A Cultural Perspective.” Information, Communication & Society 13.2: 249–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turkle, S. 2011. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vallor, S. 2010. “Social Networking Technology and the Virtues.” Ethics and Information Technology 12 (2): 157–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winner, L. 1986. “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” In his The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Winner, L. 1997. “Cyberlibertarian Myths and the Prospects for Community.” ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society 27.3: 14–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, D. 2004. “Rights and Community in Confucianism.” In Confucian Ethics: a Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy and Community. Ed. by K.L. Shun & D. Wong. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, D. (2008). “Chinese Ethics.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition). Ed. by E. Zalta. Available Online at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/ethics-chinese/

  • Yu, E., & R. Fan 2007. “A Confucian View of Personhood and Bioethics.” Bioethical Inquiry 4: 171–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (InSIS) & Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PN, England, UK

    Pak-hang Wong

Authors
  1. Pak-hang Wong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pak-hang Wong.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wong, Ph. Confucian Social Media: An Oxymoron?. Dao 12, 283–296 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-013-9329-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-013-9329-y

Keywords

  • Confucian Ethics
  • Social Media
  • Ethics and Technology
  • Design Ethics
  • Philosophy of Technology