The virtue of incivility: Confucian communitarianism beyond docility

Abstract

This article argues that in order to make Confucian communitarianism a viable political vision, namely, Civil Confucianism, its emphasis on civility must be balanced with what I call 'Confucian incivility', a set of Confucian social practices that temporarily upset the existing social relations and yet that, ironically, help those relations become more enduring and viable. The central argument is that 'Confucian civility' encompasses both social-harmonizing civilities that buttress the moral foundation of the Confucian social order and some incivilities that upset that foundation, albeit temporarily, in order to revise and thereby revitalize it. The article presents Confucian civility as both deferentially remonstrative and respectfully corrective (in the familial relations) and uncompromising and even intractable (in the political relations). It concludes by examining the implications of the virtue of Confucian incivility for constructing a less conservative and more socio-politically vibrant version of Confucian communitarianism than the prevailing suggestions of it.

Political authority and resistance to injustice: A Confucian perspective

“…One argument for government agents following orders they deem unjust is that these agents are fiduciaries of the government, and thus have special obligations to implement government policies that meet certain procedural requirements. 81 For the early Confucians, however, the relationship between the government and its agents is a moral relationship mediated by the principle of righteousness, and it could be dissolved by the ruler's misconduct 82 ; therefore, there could be no fiduciary duty to commit injustice for one's government. As Confucius said, "If what [the ruler] says is good and no [minister] goes against him, good.…”

Testing the Dimensionality of Low Self-Control Across Three Groups of Chinese Adolescents

“…First, self-control is not only conceptualized as a personal trait similar to Aristotle’s possession of “habitual good” as an aspect of one’s character, but also serves as the foundation for reaching “ Ren ” or the quality of benevolence, human-heartedness, and humanity in Confucianism (Berling, 1982; Yao, 2000). Kim (2011) has suggested that a Confucian self is a role-playing social self . An individual with Confucian self-control is an other-regarding citizen who consciously gives up the narrow pursuit of his or her personal interests for the promotion of the collective good.…”

“…Importantly, these same dimensions of the LSC measure closely fit the definition of a “petty man” (i.e., person of LSC) in Confucianism. A petty man ( xiao ren ) is an individual who is self-centered, lacking in moral principles, and likely to jump on opportunities that benefit him despite known ill effects on others (Kim, 2011). For example, impulsivity is the first element of the LSC concept (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990); it is assumed that a high need for immediate gratification leads to loss of the benefit of rewards coming from delayed gratification in the form of social approval and investment in long-term outcomes.…”

Family incivility and service delivery of frontline hotel employees: roles of negative rumination, psychological capital and perceived organisational support

“…Service quality is vital to maintain a competitive advantage in highly competitive business settings (Chen and King, 2018), and studies have established a positive relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, satisfaction and repurchase intention (Kim, 2011; Law et al , 2022). One major element deciding a firm's service quality is service delivery.…”