摘 要

家庭伦理观影响一个家庭的发展，甚至影响社会的发展。研究中西方家庭伦理观差异有利于呈现不同模式家庭相处情况下的优势及弊端，以便取精华，去糟粕，将中西方值得借鉴的地方融合到一起，以形成新型的家庭伦理观和适应现代社会要求的家庭伦理观。

本文通过对比中西方夫妻之间和亲子之间不同的相处方式，探究了导致这些差异的原因。研究发现，中西方夫妻之间的差异体现在双方在婚姻观念上的不同，在一定程度上也影响了家庭中不同的夫妻地位；亲子之间关系差异体现在父母对子女的教育，以及子女对父母的赡养方面。造成这些差异的原因主要在于：中西方不同发展过程中的历史、文化等方面的影响。由此可见，中西方家庭伦理需要互相借鉴，取长补短，这样将有利于新型、健康家庭伦理观的形成。

关键词：家庭伦理；中西方；夫妻关系；亲子关系；差异

Contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………....1

1.1 Background of the Study……………………………………………………..1

1.2 Significance of the Study…………………………………………………….2

1.3 Structure of the Thesis………………………………………………………..2

2. Demonstration………………………………………………………………………3

2.1 Literature Review.............................................................................................3

2.2 Differences of Relationships in Family Members............................................4

2.2.1 Differences in Husband-wife Relationship…………………………...4

2.2.1.1 View of Marriage………………………………………………4

2.2.1.2 Status of Husband and Wife…………………………………...5

2.2.2 Differences in Parent-child Relationship…………….….....................6

2.2.2.1 Style of Family Education.…………………………………….7

2.2.2.2 Family Provision Mode for the Aged………………………….8

2.3 Analysis of the Causes..................................................................................9

2.3.1 Causes of the Differences in Husband-wife Relationship…….........9

2.3.2 Causes of the Differences in Parent-child Relationship………....10

1. Conclusion………………………………………………………………...............11

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………..............12

Bibliography………………………………………………………………….............13

A Contrastive Study on Family Ethics in China and Western Countries

1. Introduction
   1. Background of the Study

With the rapid development of modern society, China and the west influence and promote each other in politics, economy and culture. However, these problems do not reduce the family ethics problems in the society, even between husband and wife, between parents and children. Due to the differences in Chinese and western cultural backgrounds, the ways of dealing with family relations are also different, and there are many differences in the way family members get along with each other. This paper intends to analyze the family ethics in China and western countries, including the different ways of Chinese and western couples, and parents and children getting along with each other, so as to display the characteristics, and further explore the causes of these differences. Integrating the advantages of Chinese and Western family ethics, we can form healthy family ethics in modern society and new era.

Obviously, Chinese and western parents' different requirements and practices on their children's education have a decisive influence on their children's development. "Premarital cohabitation in the United States is evident, and sexual freedom is relatively free, resulting in many single-parent families." (Gotea, 2016). Westerners are quite free in their choice of marriage. Chinese put more emphasis on big families and a sense of responsibility. Tracing the reasons for the differences in various aspects, “In the traditional Chinese concept, marriage is a matter of family, and individuals have no autonomy in marriage, while in the western concept, marriage is a matter of the parties themselves, decided by themselves, and other people's interference cannot be tolerated” (Li, 2005). In China's traditional society, marriages follow the words of parents' orders and matchmakers, and individuals have no right to pursue happiness. But in the west, love and marriage are very free, which will not affect the choice of spouse because of other external factors. In a word, there are many issues worth studying in the aspects of husband and wife and parent-child ethics in China and the west.

Based on the domestic and foreign research on family ethics, this paper focuses on the study of husband and wife relationship, and parent-child relationship in China and western countries. The aspect of husband and wife mainly involves the attitude of husband and wife towards marriage and each other, including the way of using property. Parent-child research focuses on the different educational concepts and methods of Chinese and western parents, as well as the attitudes and practices of their children towards the elderly. In addition, this paper will trace the reasons that lead to these ethical differences, and show the different family ethics of China and the west, so as to learn from each other and help form a more reasonable family ethics.