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In recent years, there has been a fast-growing body of literature on the sources of social trust. However, empirical studies focusing on non-Western societies are rare. To fill the gap, this study is intended to explore both the individual and contextual sources of social trust in rural China. This study uses hierarchical linear models to analyze the multilevel foundations of social trust based upon a unique two-level data set from the China General Social Survey (CGSS) conducted nationwide at both the individual and village level in rural China. The results indicate that Chinese villagers markedly differentiate between the particularized and generalized forms of trust. While particularized trust is strongly influenced by both personal experiences and subjective orientations, generalized trust is closely associated with one's basic values (i.e., norms of civility). Moreover, both types of trust are very unevenly distributed in rural China, and geographically dispersed villages tend to strongly constrain the development of social trust. Given the complex nature of social trust, these results suggest that more sophisticated studies should be introduced to map how its forms and magnitudes vary across localities. Adapted from the source document.

ObjectiveIn recent years, there has been a fast‐growing body of literature on the sources of social trust. However, empirical studies focusing on non‐Western societies are rare. To fill the gap, this study is intended to explore both the individual and contextual sources of social trust in rural China.MethodsThis study uses hierarchical linear models to analyze the multilevel foundations of social trust based upon a unique two‐level data set from the China General Social Survey (CGSS) conducted nationwide at both the individual and village level in rural China.ResultsThe results indicate that Chinese villagers markedly differentiate between the particularized and generalized forms of trust. While particularized trust is strongly influenced by both personal experiences and subjective orientations, generalized trust is closely associated with one's basic values (i.e., norms of civility). Moreover, both types of trust are very unevenly distributed in rural China, and geographically dispersed villages tend to strongly constrain the development of social trust.ConclusionGiven the complex nature of social trust, these results suggest that more sophisticated studies should be introduced to map how its forms and magnitudes vary across localities.

Social trust, as an essential element of political culture, is assumed to strongly affect the effectiveness of political institution. However, such studies in non-democratic settings are scarce, and even scarcer in the Chinese context. This dissertation, using data drawn from an original survey in rural China, examines the extent, sociopolitical origins, and political consequences of social trust in China. The results suggest that China has a unique pattern of social trust owing to its dual Confucian and Communist heritages. While trusts in relatives, neighbors, kinsman, and other villagers (i.e., particularized trust) are extensive, trust in strangers (generalized trust) is scarce. Using multilevel level analysis, this dissertation finds that both personal traits and village attributes help to explain the distributions of social trust in rural China. Finally, contrary to the common beliefs, this dissertation finds that variations in public goods provision in rural China can be best explained by particularized trust, but not generalized trust.

According to the optimistic reading of the trust deficit in contemporary democracies, an increasingly non-religious and presumably more rational citizenry is naturally inclined to distrust public institutions. This modern shift is viewed as a positive check that can supposedly improve representative government. We propose a more nuanced understanding of the influence of supernatural beliefs on institutional trust. Specifically, we move beyond the popular analytical dichotomy between the religious and the non-religious by separating the non-religious into a non-believer segment and a segment hitherto overlooked by studies of political trust: unconventional or heterodox believers (e.g., in astrology, lucky charms, divination and faith healing, but not in conventional religion). Using comparative data from the International Social Survey Programme, we find that heterodox believers, similarly to non-believers, tend to distrust institutions, albeit for very different reasons. The previously ignored role of heterodox beliefs points to grave implications regarding the current trust deficit.

Research has shown that citizens' economic perceptions heavily influence their political support, both support for the incumbent government and support for the political system. Yet, inadequate attention has been paid to how the economic roles of the government shape the economic basis of political support. We argue that the extent to which the government is engaged in the economy determines how people attribute economic success or failure to the government and thus moderates the effect of economic perceptions. Focusing on one widely researched measurement of political support in a democratic setting, democratic satisfaction, we analyze the moderating effect of government economic engagement on the effect of economic perceptions among eighteen Latin American democracies. A consistent finding yielded in our study is that with a higher level of economic engagement of the government, there is a stronger association between citizens' perceptions of economic conditions and their satisfaction with democracy.

AbstractAlthough the internet is severely censored in China, negative reporting and critical deliberations of political institutions and policy issues, especially low-profile ones, have been abundant in cyberspace. Given such a mixed pattern of online information, this study explores the complexity of the effect of the internet on regime support by parsing it into direct effect and indirect effect. It argues that the internet indirectly erodes its viewers' overall support for the authoritarian regime by decreasing their evaluation of government performance. The findings from a mediation analysis of a Beijing sample support this argument. The result of one analysis also indicates that the direct effect of internet use on regime support can be positive. Such findings about the effect of the internet in China help advance our understanding of both political and theoretical implications of the spread of the internet in authoritarian countries.

This study presents a contextual explanation of regime support by arguing that although an individual's instrumental economic calculation and intrinsic democratic value are important predictors of political support, the extent to which they matter is contingent on the nature of the regime, as defined primarily by democracy. Using data drawn from the second wave of the Asia Barometer, we find that economic perceptions are less important for regime support in democratic countries than they are in authoritarian countries, and an affection for democracy makes people more critical of the political system in authoritarian countries than in democratic countries.

This study offers an empirical test of the effect of decentralisation on political trust. A comparative analysis of citizens in 47 countries suggests indirect and heterogeneous consequences of decentralisation. First, while various dimensions of decentralisation are significantly associated with political trust at the country level, no dimension has a direct effect on political trust at the individual level. Second, not all forms of decentralisation contribute to the promotion of political trust. And, finally, two dimensions of decentralisation (that is, fiscal and administrative) promote political trust through reducing the negative effect of democratic values.

This research responds to the need to study trust in the national government (national trust) and in local government (local trust) simultaneously and investigates how decentralization reshapes political attitudes toward different layers of government. The argument is that decentralization contributes to variant patterns of political trust, defined by the relative strength of national trust and local trust, across countries. A multilevel analysis of East Asian countries shows that decentralization nurtures local trust in democracies, but decreases local trust in autocracies. Further, decentralization boosts national trust in autocracies, but not in democracies. Such a variant effect of decentralization sheds light on regime stability and viability in democratic and authoritarian countries.