Old Boys’ Power Illusion: Hometown Elites’ Promotion and Political Trust

• In Event: On (Not) Trusting in Politics

Abstract

Traditional accounts of the major antecedents of political trust tend to focus heavily on performance evaluations of government. As satisfaction with various governmental outputs or processes fluctuate, so too will levels of trust in government. Despite its merits, this perspective does not consistently explain the trends observed in real-life data. Utilizing a longitudinal national survey from China, this article proposes an alternative psychological perspective to understand political trust, suggesting that an increase in political trust resulted from promoting hometown officials to high-ranking positions is not explained by positive performance evaluations, but from positive psychological fulfillment as if “they were me”. Notably, the increased political trust is more pronounced among male respondents over 41 years old, particularly those with children, without internet access, employed in the private sector, and with an education level below high school.

Authors

• Xiaoxiao Shen, Princeton University

• Xing Chen, Fudan University