Filial Piety and its Role in Decision-Making:A Qualitative Study on Negotiation and Power Relations inChoice of University and College Majorsamong Malaysian Youth

Abstrak

The process in deciding college or university majors is
complex, especially for youth who have completed their secondary
education and have been taking advice from seniors. Such complexity has
been caused by the contestation in decision making, whereby applicants
have to struggle between obeying their seniors, and taking control of their
own lives. This paper discusses the decision-making processes employed
by Penang Chinese youths as applicants of college admission or choosers
of university majors, and those of their parents, where unequal power
relations is built on filial piety, or ‘孝 (xiao)’ in Mandarin. Findings
show that Malaysian Chinese youth constantly negotiate the exercise of
filial piety under different circumstances. In cases where they disagree
with their parents’ decision, they would demonstrate an innate guilt that
is often tied to the filial responsibility they expect to fulfil. Nonetheless,
their negotiation power would increase when they are clear of their own
career path upon graduation, as they strive to convince their parents that
the graduates will maintain their family reputation. Such promise is also a
demonstration of filial piety, which then gives Malaysian Chinese youth
the upper hand in decision-making.