Confugenics - Consumer Eugenics in East Asia

A new terminology - “Confugenics” is thus proposed to describe the prospective intersection of such emerging human enhancement and reprogenetic technologies with the fixation on academic achievements and social status shaped by hyper-competitive social norms within East Asian societies.
Like

Share this post

Choose a social network to share with, or copy the URL to share elsewhere

This is a representation of how your post may appear on social media. The actual post will vary between social networks

Explore the Research

SpringerLink
SpringerLink SpringerLink

Confugenics - East Asian culture favors uptake of human cognitive enhancement and IVF genetic technologies amid demographic challenges - Monash Bioethics Review

This study examines the declining fertility rates in East Asian Confucian societies, focusing on the unique childrearing practices and how future advancements in human enhancement and reprogenetic technologies may further accelerate the demographic decline. The focus is on the obsession with “child perfectionism” driven by the pursuit of academic credentialism and hypercompetitive social norms. This phenomenon has roots in the historical imperial examinations of China and has evolved into modern college entrance exams. Recent growth in knowledge-based and technology-driven economies in East Asia has further fueled this trend, leading to the widespread practice of “tiger parenting” whereby parents push their children into the competitive educational system at an early age, often paying high fees for private tuition. Such intense pressure discourages many families from having more children, with some couples choosing not to have any children at all. The development of cognitive-enhancing brain chips and reprogenetic technology platforms for consumer eugenics, such as germline genome editing and polygenic embryo screening, may further increase financial strain on parents, potentially accelerating demographic decline. The term “Confugenics” is thus proposed to describe the intersection of these new eugenics and enhancement technologies with the Confucian emphasis on academic success, which may worsen the demographic crisis.

 Please also see the slide presentation video:

     This study examines the declining fertility rates in East Asian Confucian societies, focusing on the unique childrearing practices and how future advancements in human enhancement and reprogenetic technologies may further accelerate the demographic decline. The focus is on the obsession with "child perfectionism" driven by the pursuit of academic credentialism and hypercompetitive social norms. This phenomenon has roots in the historical imperial examinations of China, which has evolved into modern college entrance exams. The imperial examination system, in place from 605 AD (Sui dynasty) until its abolition in 1905 (Qing dynasty), was largely based on classical Confucian texts and offered a significant path for social mobility, allowing people from all social classes, rich or poor, to compete for prestigious and well-paid government positions. This led to the rise of an elite class of scholar-bureaucrats who were more respected than other professions like farmers, merchants, or craftsmen, as reflected in the saying, "Scholarship pursuit surmounts all other occupations" (万般皆下品,惟有读书高). The most intelligent young men ascended to the status of scholar-officials, who administered the populace, accumulated wealth, married multiple wives and fathered numerous offspring, thus contributing disproportionately to the current Chinese population gene pool. Indeed, this is best encapsulated by a quote from the first Prime Minster of Singapore, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, who said, “So the successful merchant or the Mandarin, gets the pick of all the rich men's daughters and the prettiest village girls and has probably five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten different wives and concubines and many children. And the poor laborer who is dumb and slow, he is neutered. It is like the lion or the stag that is outside the flock. He has no harems, so he does not pass his genes down. So, in that way, a smarter population emerges.”

     Recent growth in knowledge-based and technology-driven economies in East Asia has further fueled the cultural and historical obsession with academic credentialism, leading to the widespread practice of "tiger parenting" whereby parents push their children into the competitive educational system at an early age, often paying high fees for private tuition. Such intense pressure discourages many families from having more children, with some couples choosing not to have any children at all. The development of cognitive-enhancing brain chips and reprogenetic technology platforms for consumer eugenics, such as germline genome editing and polygenic embryo screening, may further increase financial strain on parents, potentially accelerating demographic decline. Due to the high costs of these human enhancement technologies, prospective parents who initially desired two or more children may eventually decide to just have one "specially-enhanced" child, preferably a boy. This may further distort population dynamics, exacerbate imbalances and contribute to a worsening fertility crisis in the future. 

     A new terminology - Confugenics (儒家优生优育,  rújiā yōushēng yōuyù) is thus proposed to describe the prospective intersection of such new eugenics and enhancement technologies with the Confucian fixation on academic achievements and social status shaped by hyper-competitive social norms within East Asian societies. This combines "Confu-" (derived from Confucianism - 儒家 (rújiā), representing the influence of Confucian ethical, familial, and social values) with "-genics" (derived from eugenics -优生 (yōushēng), relating to the concept of selective reproduction of individuals with advantageous genetic traits to improve the quality of the human population). Additionally, the proposed Chinese terminology (儒家优生优育) also holistically incorporates “good child upbringing” or “good parenting” (优育,  yōuyù).

Please sign in or register for FREE

If you are a registered user on Research Communities by Springer Nature, please sign in

Follow the Topic

Bioethics
Humanities and Social Sciences > Society > Science and Technology Studies > Societal Outreach of Biology > Bioethics
Bioethics
Humanities and Social Sciences > Society > Sociology > Health, Medicine and Society > Bioethics
Genetic Service
Life Sciences > Health Sciences > Health Care > Genetic Service
Medical Genetics
Life Sciences > Biological Sciences > Genetics and Genomics > Medical Genetics
Chinese Philosophy
Humanities and Social Sciences > Philosophy > Intercultural Philosophy and Religious Traditions > Chinese Philosophy
Confucianism
Humanities and Social Sciences > Religion > Confucianism

Related Collections

With Collections, you can get published faster and increase your visibility.

Ethical, Practical and Systemic Challenges Facing Children with Complex Chronic Conditions: A Global Health Perspective

Children with complex chronic conditions (CCCC) are a group of children who experience fragility, functional limitations, high healthcare service needs, and high healthcare utilisation (Cohen et al., 2011). This includes children with medical complexity, behavioural complexity, and developmental disorders. These children are considered a vulnerable population requiring both planned and urgent interdisciplinary care provided by specialty and subspecialty teams over long periods of time. The quality of their care often depends on established therapeutic relationships and the coordination of multiple health and social services, such as inpatient and outpatient healthcare, social work, home-based care, and special educational interventions. Due to poor integration and communication among different providers, health outcomes for this group are often variable and poor. Families of children with complex chronic conditions often encounter social and financial challenges, including the high cost of treatments and care, stigma, and other obstacles (e.g., parent quitting job to care for child, moving to be close to hospital) related to accommodating the child’s needs. Care needs for these children often demand that one parent serve as a full-time caregiver, with little or no financial support. In addition, families of children with complex chronic conditions may have more than one child who suffers from a serious health condition requiring care and support. The challenges that this group of children and their families face are complex and vary depending on factors such as geographic location, culture, society, health system and related policies. These challenges are also experienced differently and influenced by individual caregiver skills and attributes, how care is provided, and importantly, how different societies and cultures value and support children with complex chronic conditions and their families. While the specific circumstances surrounding these challenges may differ, the distinct needs and vulnerabilities of this population are similar, and certain ethical obligations towards them exist. As the pandemic has shown, children with complex and chronic conditions are likely to be neglected or ignored in public policy decisions due to the complexities of their needs. Changes made to the provision of, and access to, usual care and support pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected children with complex chronic conditions and raised important ethical questions related to equity and health justice. Pre-existing and current systemic inefficiencies are likely to further exacerbate the health and social inequalities these children face, leading to disadvantages with clinical and non-clinical consequences that extend into adulthood. Despite their importance, these issues have not been properly considered in policy and ethics debates so far.

Publishing Model: Hybrid

Deadline: Dec 31, 2025

Migration Health Ethics

This special issue, an initiative of the Southeast Asian Bioethics Network (https://seabioethics.com/), invites submissions of original research articles about migration health ethics. The term ‘migrant’ is an umbrella term for a person who moves away from their usual place of residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons. Types of migration include, but are not limited to, labor migration, forced migration, and environmental migration. Articles can be from any part of the world and should examine ethical, legal, or social questions that are of ethical relevance to the topic of migration health. The articles can be empirical or normative and should be 2,000-5,000 words in length.

Publishing Model: Hybrid

Deadline: Dec 31, 2026