article

The cultural construction of emotion in rural Chinese social life

Ethos16 (2)Published In 1988 • Pages: 181-208

By: Potter, Sulamith Heins.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of Chinese emotions, specifically their meaning in social settings. The main argument regards Chinese emotional life as disassociated from social life. Public expressions of anger, sadness, or even joy lack social importance. Rather they are considered idiosyncratic "outbursts" that for the most part can be ignored. The discussion draws on closer examination of emotions as expressed in various familial, marital, and political settings and finds that close social relationships are affirmed through acts of work rather than expressions of love and emotion.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Drives and emotions
Mutual aid
Basis of marriage
Family relationships
Ethnopsychology
Ethnosociology
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Han Chinese
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
East Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard; 2021
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
not specified
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
People's Republic of China
NotesAdditional notes
Sulamith Heins Potter
Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-208)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
730643517
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
China--Social life and customs