Commentary: Psychology of Selfhood in China: Where is the Collective?

The analysis of Chinese maxims shows strong Confucian norms of filial piety operating in the family (Wang & Dai, 2009). Admitting that the norm is also strong in Korea, we explore the difference in selfhood between Korea and China. Taking a sociolinguistic approach, we characterize Chinese collectivism as relational collectivism and pose the question of how the collective works in Chinese selfhood. For comparative purposes, we describe the working of the collective in Korean selfhood and invite efforts to examine linguistic practice.