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This is hilarious but there are perfectly respectable US social scientists who believe the same thing, and it’s going to get worse. (thread) /1 https://twitter.com/BadChinaTake/status/1336535161652043776
e.g. prominent political scientist David Shambaugh (2013) on the three essential features of Chinese political culture:
1) “Trust is at a minimum, and therefore, in the Chinese worldview, collective action cannot possibly be based on common ideals or values…a society composed /2
1) “Trust is at a minimum, and therefore, in the Chinese worldview, collective action cannot possibly be based on common ideals or values…a society composed /2
of self-seeking, power-maximizing individuals who are dismissive of domestic social responsibilities and public goods”
2) “Every day, everywhere, everyone in China turns normal social interactions into transactional ones whereby reciprocal provision of goods and services is /3
2) “Every day, everywhere, everyone in China turns normal social interactions into transactional ones whereby reciprocal provision of goods and services is /3
the norm. It is hard-wired into the DNA of Chinese culture, society, and business. This is one important reason corruption will never be controlled or eliminated in China…As a result of guanxi culture, there is no such concept as ‘public goods’”
3) “In China, there exists /4
3) “In China, there exists /4
a universal belief in a strong state that provides for society…Unlike the European and Anglo-Saxon tradition, there is no underlying concept of a Lockean social contract whereby citizens comply with the law because they accept the underlying norms of the law or contribute /5
their individual earnings to the state via taxes so as to provide for the common good. Many Chinese do not understand why they must pay individual or corporate taxes”
(lol yeah no tax avoidance in the Angle-Saxon tradition) /6
(lol yeah no tax avoidance in the Angle-Saxon tradition) /6
It’ll get worse because, as the arrogant “end of history” universalism breaks down and great power conflict intensifies, the US elite is using a defensive culturalism to evade self-critical introspection on why neoliberalism failed. They’re trying to preserve the original /7
vision by blaming its failure on the inability of the foreign Other to accept it. In the process they’re betraying liberal universalism in a much deeper way, turning democracy and human rights into a Western particularity, so they can hold onto the legitimacy of US hegemony. 8/
