Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Exploring Overseas Chinese Middle Class’s Democratic Orientations amid China’s Modernization

Jiang, Hong (2024) COSM40 20241
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
China’s impressive socioeconomic development amid its modernization over the past decades has not been paralleled with political liberalization as modernization theory assumed. State-led development gave rise to a more-educated middle class, and yet previous studies have controversies over whether the middle class can be a harbinger of the country’s democratization. There has been a research gap concerning overseas middle-class Chinese’s democratic orientations. This thesis aims to fill in this gap using primary data from qualitative interviews in light of previous research findings. Informed by the Gerschenkronian hypothesis of a late modernizer and contemporary state-centered paradigm as well as a neo-Weberian approach—Hofstede’s theory... (More)
China’s impressive socioeconomic development amid its modernization over the past decades has not been paralleled with political liberalization as modernization theory assumed. State-led development gave rise to a more-educated middle class, and yet previous studies have controversies over whether the middle class can be a harbinger of the country’s democratization. There has been a research gap concerning overseas middle-class Chinese’s democratic orientations. This thesis aims to fill in this gap using primary data from qualitative interviews in light of previous research findings. Informed by the Gerschenkronian hypothesis of a late modernizer and contemporary state-centered paradigm as well as a neo-Weberian approach—Hofstede’s theory of national culture dimensions, this thesis traces what and why overseas middle class Chinese’s attitudes are to Western democratic values, political activism, and their perceived desirability and feasibility of China’s democratization. The findings suggest that despite their Western education a significant proportion of the interviewees are skeptical about Western democratic values, and a predominant proportion deem it infeasible for China to embrace Western democracy, due to not only the middle class’s state dependency but more importantly cultural values. China’s COVID policies have exerted limited impact on their attitudes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Jiang, Hong
supervisor
organization
course
COSM40 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Overseas Chinese, middle class, democratic orientations, Chinese modernization
language
English
id
9171161
date added to LUP
2024-08-07 09:36:11
date last changed
2024-08-07 09:36:11
@misc{9171161,
  abstract     = {{China’s impressive socioeconomic development amid its modernization over the past decades has not been paralleled with political liberalization as modernization theory assumed. State-led development gave rise to a more-educated middle class, and yet previous studies have controversies over whether the middle class can be a harbinger of the country’s democratization. There has been a research gap concerning overseas middle-class Chinese’s democratic orientations. This thesis aims to fill in this gap using primary data from qualitative interviews in light of previous research findings. Informed by the Gerschenkronian hypothesis of a late modernizer and contemporary state-centered paradigm as well as a neo-Weberian approach—Hofstede’s theory of national culture dimensions, this thesis traces what and why overseas middle class Chinese’s attitudes are to Western democratic values, political activism, and their perceived desirability and feasibility of China’s democratization. The findings suggest that despite their Western education a significant proportion of the interviewees are skeptical about Western democratic values, and a predominant proportion deem it infeasible for China to embrace Western democracy, due to not only the middle class’s state dependency but more importantly cultural values. China’s COVID policies have exerted limited impact on their attitudes.}},
  author       = {{Jiang, Hong}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Exploring Overseas Chinese Middle Class’s Democratic Orientations amid China’s Modernization}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}