Abstract
In spite of being part of disparate great traditions that also imply important national and individually perceived identity functions, the cultures of the South East Asian littoral along its inner, mediterranean sea (South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, and Java Sea), possess an amazing unity of basic ideas about how life on the ground should be lived. The inner core, the moral core of life, is the home, the family: its symbol is the female as mother: psychologically, individuation is low. The known world outside the home is about prestige and prowess, hierarchical, like the inner core, yet with the focus not on morality per se but on dignity and presentation. It is far more turbulent than the inner core, yet obliging. In moving away from the private sphere, life appears increasingly devoid of moral guidelines: there is no value-laden model for the public sphere of business and politics.
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