Liberalism and Postmaterialism in China: The Role of Social Class and Inequality

Zhang, Tony Huiquan; Brym, Robert J.; Andersen, Robert

doi:10.1080/21620555.2016.1227239

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…; Zhang et al. ), and culture zone (Flanagan and Lee ; Huntington ) are significantly associated with liberalism. Therefore, we control for these contextual variables.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many empirical studies confirm that societal affluence and high individual socioeconomic status lead to liberal attitudes (Andersen and Fetner ; la Roi and Mandemakers ; Loftus ; Ohlander et al. ; Pampel ; Zhang, Brym, and Andersen ). These studies also demonstrate that economic development brings about the expansion of education in modern societies (Meyer et al.…”

Section: Educational Effects: Sophistication Socialization and Valumentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Previous studies argue that the level of economic development (Inglehart and Baker 2000), inequality (Andersen and Fetner 2008;Milligan et al 2014;Zhang et al 2017), and culture zone (Flanagan and Lee 2003;Huntington 1993) are significantly associated with liberalism. Therefore, we control for these contextual variables.…”

Section: Contextual-level Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tolerance of Homosexuality in 88 Countries: Education, Political Freedom, and Liberalism

Zhang

Brym

2019

Sociological Forum

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Researchers have repeatedly found a positive correlation between education and tolerance. However, they may be victims of an unrepresentative sample containing only rich Western liberal democracies, where political agendas have a liberalizing effect on curricula. In this paper, we specify the relationship between education and liberal attitudes by analyzing data on educational attainment and tolerance of homosexuality (one dimension of liberalism) drawn from a heterogeneous sample of 88 countries over the period 1981–2014. We argue that nonliberal political agendas in some countries undermine the supposed universality of the positive relationship between educational attainment and tolerance of homosexuality. In relatively free countries, education is indeed associated with greater tolerance. However, in relatively unfree countries, education has no effect on tolerance and in some cases encourages intolerance. Specifically, our analysis demonstrates that education is associated with tolerance of homosexuality only when regimes energetically promote liberal‐democratic values. The larger theoretical point is that the agendas of political regimes shape civic values partly via education systems. Especially in an era when democracy is at risk in many countries, it is important to recognize that education is not always a benign force.

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“…; Zhang et al. ), and culture zone (Flanagan and Lee ; Huntington ) are significantly associated with liberalism. Therefore, we control for these contextual variables.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Educational Effects: Sophistication Socialization and Valumentioning

confidence: 98%

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Tolerance of Homosexuality in 88 Countries: Education, Political Freedom, and Liberalism

Zhang

Brym

2019

Sociological Forum

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“…Under this neoliberal-authoritarian hegemony, sociological research finds that patterns of value changes do not accord with Inglehart's assumption that economic growth and individual-level affluence are likely to lead to support for postmaterialist and liberal values. Survey data show that postmaterialist values have been declining since the mid-2000s, and high-income groups, who have benefited most from the economic status quo, are no less 'xenophobic, authoritarian or more desirous of democracy' than low-status groups (Zhang, Brym and Andersen, 2017;Brym, 2016). On the other hand, however, citizen activism has become increasingly visible in the limited space of civil society, especially in areas that are not perceived as politically destabilising: first in environmentalism and then extended to feminism, LGBT rights and animal welfare in recent years.…”

Section: From Cyber-nationalism To Right-wing Populism Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%

Right-Wing Populist Discourse on Chinese Social Media: Identity, Otherness, and Global Imaginaries

Zhang

2019

SSRN Journal

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The last few years have seen the emergence of a right-wing populist discourse on Chinese social media that combines the claims, vocabulary, and style of right-wing populisms in Europe and North America with previous forms of nationalism and racism in Chinese cyberspace. In other words, it provokes a similar hostility towards immigrants, Muslims, feminism, the so-called 'liberal elites', and progressive values in general. This article examines how, in debating global political events such as the European refugee crisis and the American presidential election, well-educated and well-informed Chinese internet users appropriate the rhetoric of 'Western-style' rightwing populism to paradoxically criticise Western hegemony and discursively construct China's ethno-racial and political identities. Through qualitative analysis of 1,038 postings retrieved from a popular social media website, this research shows that by criticising Western 'liberal elites', the discourse constructs China's ethno-racial identity against the 'inferior' non-Western other, exemplified by non-white immigrants and Muslims, with racial nationalism on one hand; and formulates China's political identity against the 'declining' Western other with realist authoritarianism on the other. We conclude by conceptualising the discourse as embodying the logics of anti-Western Eurocentrism and anti-hegemonic hegemonies. This article 1) provides critical insights into the changing ways in which self/other relations are imagined in Chinese popular geopolitical discourse; 2) sheds light on the global circulation of extremist discourses facilitated by the internet; and 3) contributes to the ongoing debate on populism and the 'crisis' of the liberal world order.

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“…1: Hierarchical Linear Model for Self-Expression Values, China, 2006 (standard errors in parentheses) * = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01; *** = p < 0.001Sources:Zhang, Brym, and Andersen (2015), based on Chinese General Social Survey (2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

After Postmaterialism: An Essay on China, Russia and the United States

Brym

2016

Can. J. Soc.

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The postmaterialist thesis makes two main claims. First, over time, rising affluence enables many people to substantially satisfy their need for security and economic sustenance, allowing them to focus on pursuing personal autonomy and self-expression. Second, at a given time, younger people, individuals in higher socio-economic positions and wealthier societies tend to be more postmaterialistic than are older people, individuals in lower socio-economic positions and poorer societies. Cursory analysis of American, Chinese and Russian survey data since the late 1980s demonstrates that some of these generalizations are difficult to sustain. While postmaterialism may have been on the rise in some countries in the last decades of the 20th century, it seems now to be a waning force among major world powers, giving way to increasing nationalism and xenophobia. The absence in postmaterialist theory of an adequate explanation for this trend suggests the need to pay more attention to the causes of alternative development paths. Two such causes are outlined in this essay: intensifying geopolitical rivalries and growing economic inequality.

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Liberalism and Postmaterialism in China: The Role of Social Class and Inequality

Cited by 22 publications

References 57 publications

Tolerance of Homosexuality in 88 Countries: Education, Political Freedom, and Liberalism

Tolerance of Homosexuality in 88 Countries: Education, Political Freedom, and Liberalism

Right-Wing Populist Discourse on Chinese Social Media: Identity, Otherness, and Global Imaginaries

After Postmaterialism: An Essay on China, Russia and the United States

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