Political Discontent in China is Associated with Isolating Personality Traits
Truex, R. 2022. “Political Discontent in China is Associated with Isolating Personality Traits." The Journal of Politics 84(4): 2172-2186.
Our personalities affect how we understand the political world, but research to date has focused almost exclusively on democratic contexts. How is personality related to political attitudes and behavior in authoritarian systems? Three original surveys of Chinese citizens show that discontented citizens in contemporary China are more fearful, disagreeable, and introverted, lacking close emotional attachments to others. Conversely, Chinese Communist Party members show high levels of extraversion and other traits associated with personal and professional success. These findings suggest a social element to regime support. China’s most dissatisfied citizens operate at the fringes of society, which may contribute to the durability of authoritarian rule in the country.
Ethnic Discrimination and Authoritarian Rule: An Analysis of Criminal Sentencing in China
Hou, Y., & Truex, R. (2022). Ethnic Discrimination in Criminal Sentencing in China. The Journal of Politics 84(4): 2294-2299.
This article presents the first analysis of ethnic discrimination in sentencing patterns in the People’s Republic of China, focusing on drug cases in Yunnan Province. We posit the problem minority hypothesis, which holds that discrimination in an authoritarian system emerges when an ethnic group becomes associated with behavior that generates social instability. On average, minority defendants in Yunnan receive sentences that are about 2.1–7.5 months longer than Han defendants who have committed similar drug crimes. Further analysis of data from all provinces reveals that this bias is largest for groups heavily involved in the drug trade.
Implicit Attitudes Toward an Authoritarian Regime
Truex, R. & D. L. Tavana. (2019). “Implicit Attitudes toward an Authoritarian Regime.” The Journal of Politics 81(3): 1014-1027.
Existing research on public opinion under authoritarianism focuses on the deliberative half of cognition. Yet in psychology, implicit attitudes and subconscious associations are often viewed as foundational, the basis for explicit attitudes and behavior. This article adapts the well-known Implicit Association Test to study Egyptian citizens’ attitudes toward President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Roughly 58% of respondents hold positive implicit attitudes toward Sisi. The data also allow for an investigation of attitude dissociation, whereby individuals hold distinct implicit and explicit attitudes toward a target object. Government employees and Coptic Christians are more likely to hold positive explicit attitudes toward Sisi but negative or neutral implicit attitudes. The correlation between explicit and implicit attitudes toward Sisi is weaker than found in comparable studies of democratic leaders, which provides evidence that self-presentational concerns are at work.