Confucian Ideology and Social Engineering

Abstract

Confucian values and ideology which have pervaded the Chinese society for the last 2000 years might have been viewed as archaic and of little value to contemporary societies which stressed social utilitarian and democratic principles. But to a newly developed nation-state, its values have practical ramifications. In Singapore, where majority (74.3% in 2015) of the population is Chinese, Confucian values were not only considered as appropriate but essential for the social, economic and more significantly political development of the nation. This chapter examined the extent to which Confucian ideology has been relevant to a newly developed nation-state. It also discussed how the state attempted to experiment with this ideology to further its social engineering process. Confucian Ethics, along with Bible Knowledge, Buddhist Studies, Islamic Religious Knowledge, Hindu Studies and Sikh Studies, was introduced in schools as part of the moral education experimentation of the Singapore state. It was plighted with various problems and not well received and was soon abandoned. The experiment was a shortlived one from 1984 to 1990 and was replaced with the Civic and Moral Education in 1990.