e the spirit of freedom and individualism that are celebrated in American society. In contrast, Asian children are taught to sacrifice their individuality for the harmony of the family and community. These beliefs are further reinforced in schools and other institutions that demand that children obey authority figures such as teachers and other adults.
However, culture is not a static entity. Instead, the cultural values of any ethnic groups are dynamic and evolving. Especially in the modern world, cultural values are being transformed through immigration and cultural exchanges. With the changing attitude of openness towards difference, Asians and Americans are beginning to adopt cultural values of one another. Certainly, the large numbers of immigrants from all over the world have begun to alter the dominant cultural values of the U.S., as the "melting-pot" philosophy gives way to multiculturalism. The expansion of Western popular culture into the East has also exerted an impact on the traditional ways of Asian countries.
Before delving into the discussion of the cultural comparisons between the moral development of children in the U.S. and Asian countries, it is essential to have an idea of the sociological debate on the concept of moral development. Lutz H. Eckensberger's (1994) comprehensive discussion of Lawrence Kohlberg's cross-cultural research on morality provides an useful framework for examining this topic. In direct opposition to the cultural relativistic proposition that certain cultural norms, including morality, are subject to the differences between cultures, Kohlberg asserted that there was an universal definition of morality. According to him, morality refers to the inherent knowledge of the "right and wrong" of certain behaviors that transcends subjective or cultural prescriptions (in Lutz, 1994, pp. 71-2).
In Kohlberg's tests of presenting dilemmas to subjects in various countries, Lutz points out clearl...