Face (sociological concept)

Although Chinese writer Lin Yutang claimed "face cannot be translated or defined", these definitions have been created: • Face is an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes. • Face is the respectability and/or deference which a person can claim for themself or from others. • Face is a quality that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in interaction. • Face is a sense of worth that comes from knowing one's status and reflecting concern with the congruence between one's performance or appearance and one's real worth. • "Face" means "sociodynamic valuation", a lexical hyponym of words meaning "prestige; dignity; honor; respect; status". == By culture ==

East Asia Chinese In China, in particular, the concepts of , and play an extremely important role in the fabric of society. In Chinese culture, "face" refers to two distinct concepts, although linked in Chinese social relations. One is (), and the other is (), which are used regularly in everyday language although not so much in formal writing. Two influential Chinese authors explained face. The Chinese writer Lu Xun referred to the American missionary Arthur Henderson Smith's interpretation. Lin Yutang considered the psychology of "face": The concept of face has a significant role in Chinese diplomacy. '''''' () "face; personal esteem; countenance; surface; side" occurs in words like: • () "face; side; reputation; self-respect; prestige, honor; social standing." It is similar to the concept of "keeping up with appearances". • () "face; appearance; respect; social standing; prestige; honor (only used in ancient Chinese prose. Now it only means appearance)" • () "facial skin; complexion; feelings; sensitivity; sense of shame" • () "face; good looking; honor; dignity; prestige" • () "face; prestige; favor; kindness; partiality" Hsien-chin Hu says “face” '''''' () "face; countenance; respect; reputation; prestige" is seen in several face words: • () "one's face; honor; respect" • () "face; self-respect; prestige; influence" • () "face; sensitivity; compassion" Hu contrasts () "audacious; wanton; shameless" as "the most severe condemnation that can be made of a person" and () "shameless; selfishly inconsiderate" as "a serious accusation meaning that ego does not care what society thinks of his character, that he is ready to obtain benefits for himself in defiance of moral standards". More specifically, mentsu can only be established when in social situations where others are present. It is associated with the fulfillment of one's social role(s) as expected by others. There are two main types of face in Japanese culture: • Menboku (面目) refers to “aspects of the self approved of or respectability given by others”. This encompasses the fulfillment of one's duty in social settings. • Taimen (体面) refers to the projected self or ostentation, which involves “the duty to clear one’s reputation of insult or imputation of failure”. The need for positive self-regard is culturally variant and Japanese motivations for positive self-regard differ from those of other cultures in that it is primarily self-critically focused. From a young age, children are encouraged by parents to become socially shared images of the ideal person through the phrase “rashii” (らしい；similar to). “Japanese competition characterized by yokonarabi (横並び), emphasizing not on surpassing others, but on not falling behind others”. In contrast to the Chinese notion of mianzi which emphasizes one's power, the Japanese notion of mentsu places emphasis on social roles. a commonly understood model of communication whereby individuals put up a polite “front” that hides their real beliefs, Common greetings in Japanese such as yoroshiku onegaishimasu (よろしくお願いします; I make a request and I hope things go well) highlight the debt-sensitive culture in Japan. By emphasizing the speaker's debt to giving credit to the listener, one implies the debt will be repaid, this is rooted in the Japanese concept of face. A study investigating the conditions that led to feelings of face-loss in Japanese participants revealed that the presence of others and engagement in activities related to social roles led to a stronger face-loss experience. Moreover, people's moods can be influenced by whether the face of those close to them are saved. Southeast Asian Burmese (Myanmar) The concept of "face" is important in Burmese society. The Burmese word for face is myet-hna (မျက်နှာ), and is used in many compound words relating to the concept of "face." The doublets myet-hna pyet (မျက်နှာပျက်) and myet-hna phyet (မျက်နှာဖျက်) mean to "lose face" and "to cause the loss of face" respectively. The loss of face is associated with an inability to control one's feelings and lose composure, especially in public. Khmer (Cambodian) The Khmer word for face is (, ). () translates literally as 'lose face'. () translates literally as 'save face' or 'preserve face'. This concept is understood and treated much the same in Cambodia as elsewhere in Asia. Thai The Thai word for face is (, ). There are basically two main ways of expressing loss of face: One, (), translates literally as 'lose face.' Another term, () means 'sale of face'. The actual connotation of is that the person who lost face did so through fault of self or through the thoughtless action of another. As in China and other regions where loss of face is important, the Thai version involves sociodynamic status. Western English Several American newspapers from 1874 listed the concept in a column of "Chinese Proverbs" or "Facts & Fancies" stating "The Chinese, be it observed, are great sticklers for propriety and respectability, and are very much afraid of what they term "losing face"." Loss of face occurs in The Times (August 3, 1929): "Each wishes to concede only what can be conceded without loss of 'face'". Save face was coined from lose face applying the semantic opposition between lose and save (; when successful, it's called ). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines "save face" as: "To keep, protect or guard (a thing) from damage, loss, or destruction", and elaborates, Among the English words of Chinese origin, lose face is an uncommon verb phrase and a unique semantic loan translation. Most Anglo-Chinese borrowings are nouns, with a few exceptions such as to kowtow, to Shanghai, to brainwash, and lose face. English face, meaning "prestige" or "honor", is the only case of a Chinese semantic loan. Semantic loans extend an indigenous word's meaning in conformity with a foreign model (e.g., the French , , used in the sense of English realize). The vast majority of English words from Chinese are ordinary loanwords with regular phonemic adaptation (e.g., chop suey < Cantonese ). A few are calques where a borrowing is blended with native elements (e.g., chopsticks < Pidgin chop "quick, fast" < Cantonese + stick). Face meaning "prestige" is technically a loan synonym, owing to semantic overlap between the native English meaning "outward semblance; effrontery" and the borrowed Chinese meaning "prestige; dignity". When face acquired its Chinese sense of "prestige; honor", it filled a lexical gap in the English lexicon. Chan and Kwok write, Carr concludes, Russian Russian Orthodox concept of face () is different from the Chinese concept of face in regards to different emphasis on sanctity and individualism, and in regards to different understanding of the opposites. However, both Russian and Chinese concepts of "face" are close to each other in their focus on person being, first and foremost, part of larger community. In contrast to co-existence of personal individualism with their simultaneous participation in community affairs within Western culture, individuality is much more toned-down in both Russian and Chinese cultures in favour of communality; both Russian and Chinese cultures are lacking in stark Western dichotomy of "internal" vs. "external", and also lacking in Western focus on legal frameworks being foundation for individualism; and instead of it, in both Russian and Chinese cultures ritualism in public relations is much more highly regarded than in Western culture, where in the West ritualism is thought of to be mostly dull and empty of content. The importance of the concept of face in Russia may be seen imprinted into amassment of proverbs and sayings, where the word is used as a reference to one's character or reputation, for instance () meaning "to lose reputation", () denoting a negative trait, , similarly to , but stronger, meaning to "lose reputation or social standing", and meaning both "face" and at the same time "the essence", when being used to describe a person, showing that there is high expectation of "inner self" and "outer self" of a person being in high accord with each other, looking from the framework of Russian culture. Having a is opposed to wearing a личина, meaning 'a mask' or 'facade,' which carries a strong negative connotation in Russian culture. South Slavic Among South Slavs, especially in Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian, the word () is used as a traditional expression for honor and the sociological concept of face. Medieval Slavic documents have shown that the word has been used with various meanings, such as form, image, character, person, symbol, face, figure, statue, idol, guise and mask. The languages also have a derived adjective ( ), used to associate shame to a person. Arabic In Arabic, the expression (, , is used to mean save face. The entire Arab culture of social and family behavior is based around Islamic concepts of dignity. For Shia Islam, face is based on the social and family ranking system found in the Treatise of Rights, Al-Risalah al-Huquq, Shia Islam's primary source for social behaviors. Persian In Persian, expressions like "" (, ), is used to mean save face and "" (, ), "" (nq, ) meaning "ashamed and embarrassed" and "" (, ) meaning "proud" (opposite of ) are used. In Iranian culture the meaning of linguistic face is much closer to the meaning of character. So Persian speakers use some strategies in saving the face or character of each other while they communicate. == Academic interpretations ==

Sociology "Face" is central to sociology and sociolinguistics. Martin C. Yang analyzed eight sociological factors in losing or gaining face: the kinds of equality between the people involved, their ages, personal sensibilities, inequality in social status, social relationship, consciousness of personal prestige, presence of a witness, and the particular social value/sanction involved. The sociologist Erving Goffman introduced the concept of "face" into social theory with his 1955 article "On Face-work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements of Social Interaction" and 1967 book Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. According to Goffman's dramaturgical perspective, face is a mask that changes depending on the audience and the variety of social interaction. People strive to maintain the face they have created in social situations. They are emotionally attached to their faces, so they feel good when their faces are maintained; loss of face results in emotional pain, so in social interactions people cooperate by using politeness strategies to maintain each other's faces. Face is sociologically universal. People "are human", Joseph Agassi and I. C. Jarvie believe, "because they have face to care for – without it they lose human dignity." Hu elaborates: The sociological concept of face has recently been reanalyzed through consideration of the Chinese concepts of face ( and ) which permits deeper understanding of the various dimensions of experience of face, including moral and social evaluation, and its emotional mechanisms. Marketing According to Hu, mianzi stands for "the kind of prestige that is emphasized...a reputation achieved through getting on in life, through success and ostentation", while face is "the respect of a group for a man with a good moral reputation: the man who will fulfill his obligations regardless of the hardships involved, who under all circumstances shows himself a decent human being". The concept seems to relate to two different meanings, from one side Chinese consumers try to increase or maintain their reputation () in front of socially and culturally significant others (e.g. friends); on the other hand, they try to defend or save face. is not only important to improve the consumer's reputation in front of significant others, but rather it is also associated with feelings of dignity, honor, and pride. In consumer behaviour literature, has been used to explain Chinese consumer purchasing behaviour and brand choice and considered it as a quality owned by some brands. Some consumers tend to favour some brands (and their products and services) because of their capacity to enable them to gain , which does not mean simply increase their reputation but also to show achievements and communicate these achievements to others in order to be more accepted in social circles, especially upper class circles. Chinese consumers tend to believe that if they buy some brands it is easier to be accepted in the social circles of powerful and wealthy people. Connections are particularly important in Chinese culture as people use social connections to achieve their goals. However, has also an emotional facet. • Positive face is "the positive consistent self-image or 'personality' (crucially including the desire that this self-image be appreciated and approved of) claimed by interactants" • Negative face is "the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, rights to non-distraction—i.e., to freedom of action and freedom from imposition" In human interactions, people are often forced to threaten either an addressee's positive and/or negative face, and so there are various politeness strategies to mitigate those face-threatening acts. However, researchers disagree on the universality of Politeness Theory, arguing it fails to consider the cultural origins of the face and behaviors in non-western cultures where interactions focus on group identity rather than individuality. For instance, the Chinese origins of “face” was not considered by Brown and Levinson. Facework Facework represents the transition from the real self of the individual to the image he or she represents to society for communicative or leadership purposes. This concept is all about presentation of the dignified image which soon will become as an authority for other individuals. Facework is a skill of constantly maintaining the face in order to deserve the respect and honor from it. For instance, individualistic cultures like United States, Canada, and Germany are standing for the position of protecting the self-face of the individual while collectivist cultures such as China, South Korea, and Japan support the idea of maintaining the other-face for self-dignity and self-respect. There are also exist other facework strategies not always basing on the culture strategies like face-negotiating, face-constituting, face-compensating, face-honoring, face-saving, face-threatening, face-building, face-protecting, face-depreciating, face-giving, face-restoring, and face-neutral. Face-negotiation theory Stella Ting-Toomey developed Face Negotiation Theory to explain cultural differences in communication and conflict resolution. Ting-Toomey defines face as: Psychology The psychology of "face" is another field of research. Wolfram Eberhard, who analyzed Chinese "guilt" and "sin" in terms of literary psychology, debunked the persistent myth that "face" is peculiar to the Chinese rather than a force in every human society. Eberhard noted The Chinese University of Hong Kong social psychologist Michael Harris Bond observed that in Hong Kong, Political science "Face" has further applications in political science. For instance, Susan Pharr stressed the importance of "losing face" in Japanese comparative politics. Semantics Linguists have analyzed the semantics of "face". Huang used prototype semantics to differentiate and . George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's Metaphors We Live By emphasizes "the face for the person" metonymy. Keith Allan (1986) extended "face" into theoretical semantics. He postulated it to be an essential element of all language interchanges, and claimed: "A satisfactory theory of linguistic meaning cannot ignore questions of face presentation, nor other politeness phenomena that maintain the co-operative nature of language interchange." == See also ==