Reconstructing the concept of face in cultural sociology: in Goffman’s footsteps, following the Chinese case

Qi, Xiaoying

doi:10.1186/s40711-017-0069-y

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The fact that these students tried to protect themselves by wearing a mask when they were among strangers, but chose to take it off when they are among their professors and American classmates speaks to their intention to strategically protect themselves, for their own health as well as against potential stigma from their American peers and professors. Maggie interprets this as face-saving, which makes sense, as face-saving is fundamentally a psychological protection against rejection in Chinese culture (Qi 2011(Qi , 2017. She wanted to avoid rejection from her professor and American classmates as the only one wearing a mask, even if that meant she ran the risk of infection.…”

Section: Secrecy Through Strategic Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To mask or not to mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic: how Chinese students in America experience and cope with stigma

Zhan

2020

Chinese Sociological Review

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Chinese students in the U.S. are confronted with the double jeopardy of virus and stigma amid the COVID19. This study focuses on their choice and impact of mask wearing during this pandemic. How do they navigate and negotiate the troubling and contradictory directives about masks coming from their home and host countries during this pandemic? What are the impacts of their experiences on their attitudes towards the American society? Drawing from stigma theory, we argue that what Chinese students experience when it comes to mask wearing is an exemplar of how stigma is socially constructed by power. Through 30 semi-structured and in-depth phone interviews with Chinese students, we find that Chinese students cope with such stigma through various mechanisms, and most notably, through the counter-narrative of discrediting the American mainstream belief in the usage of masks. However, they harbored these thoughts privately. In addition, we conclude that escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, coupled with the lack of social integration of Chinese students in America, will continue to alienate them, despite the subsequent destigmatization of mask-wearing in America.

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Section: Secrecy Through Strategic Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To mask or not to mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic: how Chinese students in America experience and cope with stigma

Zhan

2020

Chinese Sociological Review

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“…Goffman explains that face is determined not only by who and what the individual holds himself or herself to be but also by how others respond to that presentation. Face is thus, inherently social because it depends on the perceptions of others (Qi, 2017). The belief that face is interactional is also evident in Western conceptualizations.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Customers want to feel honored by service providers and to be treated as important. A customer concerned about face may thus, feel more satisfied (perceive better interactional justice) in a recovery situation when the employee who deals with the problem is of higher status (Qi, 2017) – a branch manager, for example, rather than a receptionist. Customers who feel they have been given first priority or immediate remedies (distributive justice) may feel more satisfied.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Face, fate and brand equity: service recovery justice and satisfaction

Lee

Lai

Zhang

2020

JCM

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Purpose Can we always expect that service recovery justice leads to satisfaction? Literature has shown that a number of moderating factors impact the recovery justice-satisfaction link in different cultures. However, there is a dearth of research that has indicated the key cultural variables that play a moderating role. This study aims to attempt to fill the research gap by investigating the moderating role of concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity in the relationship between perceived justice and satisfaction in Chinese culture during service recovery. Design/methodology/approach The hypothesized relationships are tested using data from interviews with 600 persons who have recently complained about their telecommunications services. Structural equation modeling is applied in analyzing their responses. Findings Concern for face is found to strengthen the relationship between interactional justice perceptions and satisfaction, but to weaken the relationship between distributive justice perceptions and satisfaction. Belief in fate weakens the link between perceptions of interactional justice and satisfaction. Brand equity positively moderates the relationship between perceptions of interactional justice and satisfaction, but it negatively moderates the relationship between perceptions of distributive justice and satisfaction. Practical implications The cultural variables, namely, face, fate and brand equity, are found to serve as a moderating role in the relationship between recovery justice dimensions and satisfaction. They are more salient when it is related to social element. Face and brand equity, as interpersonal constructs, aggravate the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction. Fate, as non-social factor, weakens the impact of interactional justice on satisfaction. It is argued that managers should provide staff training in product knowledge and customer service as a preventive measure against damage to the brand. Regular customer satisfaction research and benchmarking exercises should be conducted to understand how customers perceive interactional justice. Originality/value This has been the first research to examine the impact of concern for face, belief in fate and brand equity in the relationship between justice perceptions and post-recovery satisfaction during service recovery.

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“…When one is deemed to be not trustworthy, the individual may ‘lose face’, and their reputation being tarnished. In China, the maintenance of one’s reputation and social standing is very important, as individuals do not want to bring shame to their family (Qi, 2017, p. 13). ‘Face’ represents the personal dignity of an individual and how they are viewed by others (Wang, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

We’re just data: Exploring China’s social credit system in relation to digital platform ratings cultures in Westernised democracies

Wong

Dobson

2019

Global Media and China

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Social media platforms and apps have become increasingly important tools for governance and the centralisation of information in many nation states around the globe. In China, the government is currently piloting a social credit system in several cities in an ambitious attempt to merge a financial credit score system with a broader quantification of social and civic integrity for all citizens and corporations. China has already begun to experiment with metrics and quantification of the value and virtue of its citizens, going beyond the function of measuring workplace performance and health-related selftracking to measuring one's purchasing and consumption history, interpersonal relationships, political activities, as well as the tracking of one's location history. China has also already begun to apply a reward and punishment system that rewards those who comply with the Chinese government's ideals and punishes those who deviate from them. Although there are no such ambitiously unified systems currently proposed in Western liberal democratic countries, some aligned structures and cultures of social media use are already well in place. This article seeks to offer a comparative examination of the structures and cultures of China's social credit system with those which are already present and in place in Western liberal democratic countries. While it may be convenient to digitise everyday social, political and economic life, China's social credit system brings about a vision of what may be to come, should democratic countries continue to do so without stricter data use policies in place.

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Reconstructing the concept of face in cultural sociology: in Goffman’s footsteps, following the Chinese case

Cited by 18 publications

References 32 publications

To mask or not to mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic: how Chinese students in America experience and cope with stigma

To mask or not to mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic: how Chinese students in America experience and cope with stigma

Face, fate and brand equity: service recovery justice and satisfaction

We’re just data: Exploring China’s social credit system in relation to digital platform ratings cultures in Westernised democracies

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