What Kind of Citizen?: Demystifying the Configuration and Dynamics of Mass Political Orientations in China

• In Event: Institutional Design and Civic Engagement in China

Abstract

The burgeoning literature on comparative authoritarianism has focused heavily on how dictators strategically utilize various institutions to serve their rule. In contrast, we have known relatively little about the mass politics of authoritarian rule—in particular, the ordinary citizens’ political attitudes and behaviors and their changes in the functioning of authoritarian rule. After all, regimes can be stable in the long run only when they accord with the legitimacy beliefs dominant among the populace. This paper revisits the rich tradition of political culture studies and its recent new development and propose a new typology for studying the configuration of mass political orientations. Using the four-wave Asian Barometer Survey data, the paper empirically examines the Chinese mass public’s political orientations and their evolution from 2002 to 2019 and discuss their implications for authoritarian rule in China.

Author

• Jun Wang