Analysis of Chinese Work Ethic Stereotypes.

When touching on stereotypes of the Chinese, one of the foremost is that they convey a huge work ethic. Stevan Harrell covers this in his paper Why do the Chinese Work so Hard? Reflections on an Entrepreneurial Ethic. Harrell is looking to give an explanation for this stereotype, to see if there is a basis in it, and then to delve down and see what motivates them to be so productive and hard-working. This is an interesting aspect of a culture, to make a statement that widely covers most of the population and to see if there is actually any merit behind it. In this case, Harrell covers a series of accounts measuring across time, political groups and cultures. From this, he is creating a basis for the discussion of if indeed there is an increased work ethic among the Chinese (which they answer was mostly yes), and from there to determine which social groups held an above average work ethic and which did not. In doing this, one can look at where it is true and where it is not to see which variables affected the work ethic.

Harrell does a good job in staying neutral in his argument, to begin with laying out where and who had an increased work ethic and from there determining the causation of this increased value of hard work. He covers socialization, material incentives, and applications of an entrepreneurial ethic in trying to determine the source of this diligence. Harrell eventually lands of the point that individuals “will work hard when they see possible long-term benefits, in terms of improved material conditions and/ or security, for a group with which they identify” (1985: 217). This can be understood when one sees that unlike Western cultures, Chinese do not identify status and wealth in what they currently possess, but rather in what their descendants possess in the future. They are working towards the betterment of the family group, rather than the betterment of one’s own self (1985: 207).

This idea of a lack of selfishness to further increase the status of one’s family group is one that I find particularly interesting and which Harrell touches on quite and bit, which he calls the Entrepreneurial Ethic. The paper was very well written, and allowed the reader to see the basis behind the stereotype of Chinese having a higher work ethic than other cultural groups.

References

Harrell, Stevan. 1985. “Why Do the Chinese Work so Hard? Refelction on an Entreprenerial Ethic.” Modern China 11(2) : 203-226.