Prejudice and danger: the only-child in China

Abstract

There exists a cross-cultural link of prejudice between Western and Chinese views of the only-child. Such prejudice has existed over a relatively long time and in situations as different as the Western "Baby Boom" and the Chinese "One-child Policy". In both instances the only-child is said to possess a range of negative character traits and is typically described as selfish, wilful, maladjusted, dependent, timid, etc. From Western examples and a wide range of Chinese sources it is found that stereotypes of prejudice against the only-child have to do with certain forms and perceptions of social danger linked to the process of modernization. The persistence of prejudice under modern conditions, however, shows that there is no one-to-one relation be tween prejudice and social transition. Complex links between rationality and norms need to be addressed to explain the phenomenon more closely.