中国人的公民意识 The Citizen Consciousness of Chinese People

(English translation is below the Chinese.)

几天前，一个朋友发邮件来着，她说她的老师（一个中国人）最近表示她认为中国社会不稳定以及有些中国人越来越缺少道德。我的朋友说她们想知道我对这个问题的看法（因为我正主修中国社会学）。下面是我的答复。（发表我这些想法是为了吸引别人的看法，那么请你在下面发评论。）

其实，你们这个问题碰巧是我前一个星期天天想到的话题。由于每天看到一个人随便扔垃圾、人们开车开得很危险（即不理行人的安全和权利）、流浪猫被抛弃了、人们在公共场所对陌生人的对待很冷淡，我认为这边的责任感相对弱。你们说中国缺少道德，我说中国缺少对社会的责任感或者公民意识；咱们的话题还是一样的。这样的态度虽也存在于美国，但我相信缺少公民意识美国人的比重更低一些。那么，这个问题在中国为什么比较严重？按照我这几天和其他中国朋友的交流以及我自己的思考，我认为这个问题的缘由至少有三个可能。下面是三个“理论”。（前两个是中国人所表达的想法，最后一个理论是我自己的假设。）


一、专制之说。中国是个一党执政的国家，60多年如此。什么社会工程、社会问题、经济问题等都要完全依赖政府的领导或者决定。几代的中国人已经熟悉这样的社会秩序了，并且其思维受到大大影响，甚至他们觉得有关公共领域的东西，无论是公共场所、公共问题、公共政策等，都要让政府来解决，而老百姓只是观众和追随者。这个思想不仅从一代人向下一代传下来，也体现在教育制度，即中国孩子在学校里主要学习怎么听好长辈或者是专家的意见或命令。结果是中国人常常对社会缺乏责任感。在其眼中，“公民”意识是个比较没有意思的概念，因为政治制度当中，他们并没有公民权，因此当人们在中国说“公民意识”，这个被认为是耳边风。

二、民主之说。这个理论与上一个有些关系。但与它不同，这个理论重视政府的视角，而不大看老百姓的角度。主要是中国政府家因为没有选举，不必考虑人们的需要。目前，经济发展是政府的优先，人民的公民意识的重要性离经济发展的很远，以至于政府担心政府若是促进公民意识的强化，人们也许反对一些公共政策，甚至怀疑一党执政的现状。

三、文化之说。近20年来，中国由农业国家到工业国家转变。这个变化非常快，以至于文化仍没适应社会新的情况与要求。这个理论主要有两个方面。一个是，在中国传统文化当中，人的责任感限于他的社会圈子，即家庭、亲戚与老乡。可在20年之内，在新的经济情形之下，好多农民移动到城市去打工，追求好的未来，支持其家庭。城市的人口密度增加特别快，而在这样的环境中，城市人需要对总体社会的责任感，否则他们每天在路上遇到别人时，他们就会不在乎他人的权利。这个意识（关心陌生人的权利）并不简单，它需要一个人较深度的思考；尊敬陌生人是为了陌生人尊敬自己，而且大家互相尊重能够导致社会和谐，也就是大家的共同利益被实现的状况。那么，“自己的行为”离“社会和谐”有点远，至少有三个思想上的步骤。这条思路应该有培养，可恐怕中国的教育制度在这个方上面仍然要改善。

第二个方面，因为经济发展的速度所造成的经济环境与就业市场，竞争很强。由此，人们不仅不熟悉在乎别人（第一个方面），他们更是重视自己的竞争力和未来，要不然吃不饱。对这角度而言，别人是障碍，正是妨碍自己实现工作或生活目标。在这样的情况下，公民意识或者是对社会的责任感都永远属于第二位。

A few days ago, a friend sent me an email in which she said her teacher, a Chinese, recently expressed that she thinks Chinese society is unstable and Chinese people are becoming less and less moral. My friend said that they both wanted to know my views toward this issue (because I’m currently studying Chinese sociology). Below is my response. (I’m sharing these thoughts in order to elicit others’ views, so please share yours at the bottom.)

Actually, this issue is coincidentally a topic that I’ve been pondering every day this week. Every day, I’ve seen people nonchalantly throw trash on the street, people drive cars wildly (ignoring pedestrians’ safety and rights), lots of abandoned stray cats, and people in public areas treat others very coldly; the sense of responsibility here is relatively weak. You both say Chinese people are lacking morality; I say that they lack a sense of responsibility for greater society or citizen consciousness. Either way, the topic is the same.

This sort of attitude also exists in America, but I believe that the proportion of Americans lacking citizen consciousness is comparatively less. Why is this problem relatively serious in China? Based on conversations with some Chinese friends in the past few days as well as my own reflection, I think that there are at least three possibilities to explain this problem. Below are the three “theories”. (The first two are expressed by Chinese people, and the final one is my own hypothesis.)

1) Authoritarian system hypothesis. China is a one-party political system, and it’s been like this for 60 years. Social projects, social problems, economic issues, etc. all completely rely on the government’s leadership or decisions. Several generations of Chinese people have already become used to this social order. Moreover, their way of thinking has been heavily influenced; so much so that they think anything related to the public realm -- whether it’s public venues, public problems, public policy, etc. – all need the government to resolve. Common people are simply observers or followers. This thinking is not only passed from one generation to the next, it is also embodied in the system – i.e., in school, Chinese children primarily learn how to listen to the opinions or orders of their elders or experts. The result is that Chinese people often lack a sense of responsibility for society. In their eyes, “citizen” consciousness is a relatively meaningless notion, because in the political system, they don’t have the rights of citizens. Thus, when someone says “citizen consciousness” in China, for many people, it goes in one ear and out the other.

2) Democracy hypothesis. This theory is related to the last. But this theory focuses on the viewpoint of the government rather than common people. The main argument is that politicians in China don’t have to think about the needs of the people because they don’t have to think about elections. Currently, economic development is the priority of the government. The citizen consciousness of the people is far less significant than economic development, to such an extent that the government worries that if they promote the strengthening of citizen consciousness, people might opposed some public policy – perhaps even doubt the current one-party system.

3) Cultural hypothesis. In the past 20 years, China has transformed from an agricultural nation into an industrialized one. This change has occurred really quickly, so much so that culture has not been able to adapt to the new societal circumstances and demands. There are primarily two parts to this theory. First, in traditional Chinese culture, a person’s sense of responsibility is limited to their social circle – i.e., family, relatives, and people from their village. But in the past 20 years, under new economic circumstances, a lot of farmers have migrated to the cities for work, pursuing a better future, supporting their family. Cities quickly became denser, and in this environment, people living in the city need to have a sense of responsibility for the greater society. Otherwise, when they run into people on the street every day, they will pay no attention to others’ rights. This sort of consciousness – caring about others’ rights – is not simple. It requires a person to think deeply: respecting strangers so that strangers respect me, and everybody mutually respecting one another can lead to a peaceful society – that is to say, a situation in which everyone’s common interests are realized. So “the self’s behavior” and “a peaceful society” are pretty far from one another; at the least, they have three steps that separate them. This train of thought must be cultivated, but in regards to this thinking, China’s education system still needs improvement.

Second, because of the economic environment and employment market created by fast economic development, competition is fierce.  As a result, people aren’t only used to paying little attention to others – the first aspect – they focus more on their own competiveness and future, otherwise they might not be able survive. From this perspective, other people are obstacles. They are hindering one from realizing their work and life goals. Under these circumstances, citizen consciousness or a sense of responsibility for society will forever remain in second place.