面子观.docx

面子观.docx

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面子观

DifferencesofFacePerceptioninChineseandWesterncultures

1Introduction

1.1Thebackgroundoffacetheory

Politenessisoneofthecategoryofmorality.Itmeansthatthenormandbehaviorstandardthatpeopleapprovedinthecommunication.Peopleintheirlifealwaysusesomeprinciplesofpoliteness.Sothattheywillachievethepurposeofcommunication.ButthedifferencebetweenChinesecultureandWesterncultureresultsinthedifferenceofpolitenessprinciple.FacePerception,asthecrucialtheoryinpolitenessprincipleisdiversityinthedifferenceofculturesituationinChineseandWestern.GriceapprovedtheCooperativePrinciplein1975toexplainpeoplehowtoobeytheprincipleofQuantity,Quality,Relation,andMannerinthespecificcommunicativesituation.[1]Butinsomeconditionspeopledidnotobeytheseprinciples.ThenBrownandLevinsonholdthatoutoftheprincipleofpolitenesspeopletakeviolatingtheCooperativePrincipleinconsideration.Afterwardstheyputforwardthe“FaceTheory”thatisbasedonGoffman’sFaceTheory.WhetherChineseresearchersorWesternresearchers,theyallpurposemanytheorypatternsandresearchmethod.

1.2Theconceptofface

WhetherinChineseorinwesterncountriestheideathattheyallagreeisthepositiveface.InChina,thefaceviewthatallthepeoplebelievedisequaltothewestern’spositiveface.Sotherewecangetamainideaofthefaceispeoplewantwoprotecttheirsafeandkeeptheirfaceberespectedbyothers.Thedefinitionisnotfrompeople’sguess,ithasadeepthoughtorigin.Culturebackground,communicativestyle,characteristic,andthinkingstylesoonandsoforth.

1.3thestrategyofdifferentfaceview

Thesetheoryisimportanttothecross-culture.Generallyspeaking,FaceTheoryisancommonphenomenonthatisownedbysocialgroupandalsoisanindividualcommunicativeprinciple.Itisconfinedbythedifferentculturalbackgroundofthedifferentlingualgroup.Thereforefaceisasocialphenomenontoobserve,butalsoaparticularculturalvalueinthelanguageofthereaction.ItisinChineseandwesterncultureorigin,socialcharacter,theindividualwillhavedifferentreflect.Westernersbelievethatfacemeansthevalueonepersonattainedinthespecificsocialinteractionprocess,alsoisthesocialpositivevaluetheother’sthinkweshouldhave.FacetotheChineselikeself-esteemforwesterners.Manyscholarshasproposedmanysuggestiontodealwiththeconditionthatthreatenothers’face.Speechacttosomedegreecanprotectourfacethatnotbethreatened.Whetherinchinaorwesterncountriesthestrategycanwork.

1.4Theoutlineofthethesis

SowhethertheFacePerceptionhavethedifferentculturalcharacteristic?

ThisThesiswillprobeintothedifferentattitudeforfacetheoryaccordingtothedifferenceofChineseandWesterncultures.Thethesisdividedintofiveparts,thefirstistheintroductionthatwillintroducethebackgroundofthefacetheoryandthemainstructureofthethesis.ThesecondpartmainlytalkaboutthefacetheoryinChinaandwesterncountries.AndthewetalkaboutthedifferencesandreasonsthatexistedinfaceviewinChineseandwestern.Theforthpartisthemethodtoworkoutthefacethreatentoachievecommunicatingsuccessfully.Thelastpartisconclusionthatsummarythewholepassage’smainideaandgivetheprospectofthefacetheory.

2FacetheoryinChineseandWesterncultures

2.1Facetheory

TheconceptoffaceperceptionisintroducedtowesterncountriesbyHuxianjiwhothinkthatfaceworkstandfortheimportantsocialreputationthatisattainedthoughgettingsuccessandpromotioncontinuously.Italsoaccumulatedbyoureffortandwisdom.[2]AmericanscholarErvingGoffman（1955）holdthatfaceworkisthepeopleinthesocialrelationshipforwinningthepositivesocialvalue,isanself-reflect.Heputforwardthetheoryof“facework”[3]“Face”meansthatpersonalimageintheeyesofothers.Usuallyapersonwillremainconsistentimage,butalsocanchangeastheenvironmentchanges.Communicationresearchershaveusedfaceandfaceworkconceptstoanalyzecommunicativebehaviorsintheareassuchascompliancegainingandemotionaldisclosure.[4]Faceworkisalsoemployedinresearchexaminingcross-culturaldifferencesinareassuchasconflictstyles.Ting-Toomey’sfacenegotiationtheoryisbasedontheworkofGoffmanandBrownandLevinson’spolitenesstheory.Thefacenegotiationtheoryisdevelopedtoexplaintheculturalsimilaritiesanddifferencesinfaceconcernsasabehavioralguidanceforconflictstrategies.Thetheoryproposesthattherearetwoconceptualdimensions:

1）faceconcerndimension:

self-faceconcern,other-faceconcernormutualfaceconcern;2）face-needdimension:

positivefaceneedandnegativefaceneed.Whenfaceconcerndimensionisjuxtaposedwithfaceneeddimension,therearefourtypesoffacemaintenance:

1）self-positivefacemaintenance,whichreferstotheuseofcommunicationstrategiestodefendandprotectone’sownneedtobeapprovedandvalued;2）otherpositivefacemaintenance,meaningtheuseofcommunicationstrategiestodefendandprotecttheotherperson’sneedtobeapprovedandvalued;3）self-negative-facemaintenanceusescommunicationstrategiestoprotectoneselffreedom,andprotectoneselffromother’sinfringementonone’sactionautonomy;and4）other-negative-facemaintenanceusescommunicationstrategiestoprotecttheotherperson’sneedofactionfreedomandautonomy.[5]Thoughtheconceptabove,wecanfindthatscholardefinitethefaceperceptionmainlyfromtwoaspect.Oneisthefaceworkisaprestigevalueorsocialstatus.Theotherisdependingonthefaceforpublicself-imageorotherpeopledeemself-image,emphasizingthefaceisanimageyouestablishinothers’heart.

2.2ThedifferencesofChineseandwesternfaceview

2.2.1Faceviewinwesternculture

ErvingGoffmandefinedfaceasapositiveandrightsocialvalue.Intheprocessofcommunication,facerepresentedassocialimage.BritishscholarsBrown&LevinsonbasedonthedefinitionoffaceofErvingGoffmanin1978putsforwardthetheoryofface.Andtheputforwardthespeechactoffcethreatexplainedthedifferenceofpositivefaceandnegativeface.InBrown&levinson’spolitenessprincipleholdthreebasicconcept:

Face,Face-ThreatingActsandFace-SavingTheory.IntheFace-SavingTheory“arationalmanwithfaceneeds”thatisthepeopleinthesocialgroupwithnormalcommunicationskills.[6]Thiskindofpersonwhohasthefaceisthepersonalimagethateverysocialmemberwanttotryitforyourselfinthepublic.This“face”dividedintotwoparts:

positivefaceandnegativeface.Positivemeansthatapersonwanttogetpraiseandaffirmationfromothers,oncetheirneedsaresatisfied,theirpositivefacecanbeprotected.Negativefacebasedonpersonalcharacterdonotwanttheirrightsareinterferedbythegrouptheyallbelongorbeboundedbygroupvalues,namelydonotimposedonothersandgiveothersspacetohaveachoice.

2.2.2FaceViewinChinese

ThereisanoldChinesesaying:

‘frameistolose,faceistoothers.’IntheChinesecultureandsocialrelations,Chinesealwaysuse‘faceandfacework’toexplainandadjustthesocialbehavior.Faceconceptalsocansayisakindofintangibleface.JustasLinYutangsaidinfaceandlaw:

‘Chinesefacenotonlycanwash,shave,andcanbelost,youcanenjoy,strifeandleave.’[7]Whetheramanisrichorpoor,facealwaysnecessary.FaceisakindoftypicalandimportantsocialpsychologicalphenomenonforChinesepeople.ButinChinathereisnoonecompletedsystemtheory.Sincetheancienttimesfaceisanimportantandinterestingwords.Chinesepeoplealwayssaveface.Thefaceisasimportantthingaslife.TheChinesefacecontainstwokindofmeaning:

thefirstishonorandreputation.Thesecondisself-respectanddignity.ThisistheChinesepeoplewanttomaintainatanytimeforanyprice.Faceistostrengthenthemoralstandardofsocialdisciplineandmaintainpersonalmoralcompleted.TheChineseintheprocessofsocialcommunicationemphasis‘domeafavor’trytoavoid‘losingface’andyoushouldtakecareofsomeoneelse’sface.Forexample,whenwerealizesomespeechacttotakeaccountofbothsidesofface,theChineseoftenusepolitenessasapragmaticmethod,toachieveharmony.Whenwehavetousesomewordstoheartother’sface,thestrategyweshoulduseisoftenfirstagainforcertainshortcomings,orisfirstapproveandthensetoutdifferences,thisistheso-calledconvergent.[8]（顾月国）Onlypaymoreattentiontoyourselvesandotherpeople’sidentityandsocialstatus,andknowhowtomaintainthefacesofothers,howtoexecutecommensuratespeechact,thiscanbeconsideredtobepolite.

2.2.3DifferencesoffaceperceptioninChineseandWesterncultures

Indifferentlanguageandculture,themeaningoffaceisthesame.Itisonlyanotherappellationtothefaceforpeopleandanimals.ButfacethisconceptwhetherinChineseorinothercultures,butiscloselyrelatedwithsociallifeinspecialmeaning.Thoughtheabovepointofviewwecanseethatthewesterncountriesemphasizethefaceisindividual,China’sfaceemphasizesocialgroup.Westerners’facestickouttheego-valueandthespiritofthepursuitofself,tomeettheegowillandfreedom.TheChinesefacestickoutindividualcognitivedegreebysociety,alsoone’sidentityandstatusinsociety.Inwesterncountriestheindividualconsciousnesscanbemorethancollectivity.Peoplewonnotpursuitthespiritofselfgroupreluctantlybecauseofcollectivity.WhileinChinagroupconsciousnessmorethanindividual,personalwillmustpertaint