Share:
What the West can learn from China
East Asian systems of hierarchy have wisdom in them
As the world turns against China, with its unsanitary ‘wet markets’, slippery public health statistics and relentless geopoliticking, this week’s long read pick nonetheless looks at what we might learn from East Asian thought about the social value of hierarchy. In The Case for Hierarchy, China-based political science academics Daniel A. Bell and Wang Pei draw on their book Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World to argue the case at Palladium magazine for a critical reappraisal of our valorisation of equality at all costs.
While equality sounds good and attractive, the authors argue, it is not without pitfalls: witness the ‘mass violence and tyranny’ that resulted from Maoist efforts during the Cultural Revolution to stamp out all forms of social hierarchy.
Conversely, hierarchy brings many benefits: the authors argue, for example, that no society can develop beyond very primitive conditions without some forms of hierarchy to structure its interactions.
But hierarchies, equally clearly, bring their own dangers. Such structures may enable societies to organise efficiently at larger scale. But historically many forms of hierarchy have become vehicles for the dominant groups to further their own self-interest, whether via the oppression of women, ethnic sub-groups or the poor. And even efficiency on its own is not an intrinsic good: just because something is efficient, the authors point out, does not make it virtuous — witness the Nazi death camps. But rather than rejecting hierarchy, the authors argue that we should embrace them — but do so thoughtfully and critically.
For example, the familial hierarchy encoded in East Asian culture by notions of ‘filial piety’ is backed by some evidence that shows how humans do indeed become more emotionally intelligent with age:
From this, they suggest, it follows that it may be both desirable and advisable to respect our elders and listen to their advice. Political hierarchies, meanwhile, also have value, but need to be evaluated critically in terms of how they benefit the citizens:
By the same token, the authors argue, rather than seeking an unattainable form of flat equality, we must also think critically about hierarchical relations between humans and other creatures, between nations around the world and even between humans and machines. This is so because to do otherwise leaves us at risk of defaulting to hierarchies that serve us less well than they might:
If the authors are correct, the challenge for our politics is less an abolition of hierarchy than the cultivation of virtue in both the polity and its leaders: a return to ancient political questions indeed.
Jordan Peterson has a lot to say about the inevitability and value of hierarchies. Unfortunately, many in the West have abused the ideal of equality to further only their own perceived self-interests, or that of their preferred identity groups. This is the pathway to conflict and chaos.
That being said, the “hierarchies” in totalitarian states such as China, Russia, Venezuela, and Cuba inhibit and repress liberty in the name of equality. This also leads ineluctably to conflict and chaos.
Yes Gerald, the same things better said by Jordan Peterson in this clip.
https://youtu.be/ViGdjc08Vt4
Well I guess we can learn to how to deliberately send faulty healthcare equipment to Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, as seems to have happened. And to deprive other countries of all available medical supplies, as also seems to have happened. (I note that the BBC and the wider MSM is not covering this).
I find this to be a pretty disgusting headline at this point in time. China is like Nazi Germany times 20. I have no doubt that some of our politicians, authorities and media organisations have identified a few things that they can usefully learn from the Chinese, but there is nothing that anybody possessed of any morality can possibly learn from them.
Too many people putting the boot in on China, as if all the problems facing the West can be laid at the Chinese door. China offers us the ‘ Belt and Road ‘ initiative which would include China, Russian zFederation, India, Iran , Italy and a few others. Now if that was to get up a head of steam the dollar ( and the Pound ) would expire and the American Empire would be finished. BRING IT ON .
Today on UnHerd:
Join the discussion
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe