The arrival of critical citizens: decline of political trust and shifting public priorities in China

TLDR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors captured this decline as reflecting the modernization of Chinese political culture and showed that Chinese citizens are acquiring stronger liberal democratic values, which make citizens more critical toward government institutions.

Abstract: Political trust has been in decline in China. In this article, we capture this decline as reflecting the modernization of Chinese political culture. While the government managed to deliver a sustained period of rapid economic growth, the public's trust in it is diminishing through two mechanisms. On the one hand, Chinese citizens are acquiring stronger liberal democratic values, which make citizens more critical toward government institutions. On the other hand, changing political culture is also shown in the citizens’ shifting of their priorities toward the expansion of freedom and empowerment of citizens. Decades of socioeconomic modernization, therefore, meant that the era of critical citizens has arrived in China.