Abstract The purpose of this paper is to make a contrastive study on the core family values in Chinese and American cultures which are based on their social ideologies. And the study is conducted focusing on two aspects: the parent-children relationships as well as the conjugal relationships. The former mainly encompasses rights and obligations while the latter pays more attention to the domination status and labor allocation in a family. Finally, the thesis briefly states the effect that the collision of two countries’ family values has brought about. Through the analysis above, the paper, to some degree, can enhance people’s further understanding of different family values and help them avoid the unnecessary conflict which may be caused by the misunderstanding in the process of communication.59088

Keywords: family values; parent-children relationship; conjugal relationship 

本文旨在比较中美两国的核心家庭价值观，且核心家庭价值观以各自的社会意识形态为基础。此研究从两方面展开，即父母与子女之间的关系和夫妻双方关系。前者主要涉及权利与义务等方面，后者着重关注家庭权力与工作分工。最终阐述两国价值观碰撞形成的影响。从某种程度上讲，通过以上分析，本文有助于增强人们进一步理解中美家庭价值观差异，进而避免交际中因误解而带来的不必要冲突。

毕业论文关键词：家庭价值观；父母与子女关系；婚姻关系

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. The Social Ideologies of China and America 2

3.1 The Definitions for Ideology and Social Ideology 2

3.2 The Dominant Social Ideology of China: Marxism 3

3.3 The Dominant Social Ideology of America: Capitalism 4

4. Different Family Values between China and America based on Their Social Ideologies 4

4.1 The Core Family Values of China: Collectivism 4

4.2 The Core Family Values of America: Inpidualism 5

5. Different Parent-children Relationships in Different Systems 6

5.1 Relationships between Parents and Children in China 6

5.2 Relationships between Parents and Children in America 8

6. Different Conjugal Relationships between China and America 9

6.1 Conjugal Relationships in China 9

6.2 Conjugal Relationships in America 10

7. Conclusion 11

1. Introduction 

A family is the fundamental and significant unit which is the cell of society. It is the basic and fundamental miniature of a country’s civilization, reflecting the moral values of a society, the unique features and cultural characteristics of a nation. From the micro angle, inpidual values mainly stem more from the family in which people are brought up, while from the macro angle, they are principally derived from the society. With completely different social systems, the world’s largest economic entity-America and the world’s largest developing country-China own perse social ideologies. Throughout the ages, both the two countries have undergone tremendous political and economic changes. In modern social cultures, proletarian consciousness, especially Marxism, plays a leading role in China in contrast to capitalism in America. Just as Lodge and Vogel once stated, ideology is a set of beliefs and values that the nation holds to justify and make legitimate the actions and purposes of its institutions (Heiner, 1998:217). Regarding the distinct essence of the social ideologies, Chinese family values and American family values take on two dissimilar characteristics, collectivism and inpidualism. Based on this, the paper is intended to make a contrastive analysis of the family values between China and America.