Moral Mandates: Unveiling the Moralized Politics and Its Consequences in China

• In Event: Public Opinion in Contemporary Chinese Politics

Abstract

Recent scholarship increasingly recognizes that moral convictions underpin the formation of political opinions, a process termed the moralization of politics. Morality, with its normative judgments of right and wrong, is not only historically cultivated but also deeply ingrained and widely acknowledged within societal institutions. In China, this moralization, rooted in the Confucian “Rule of Virtue” (De Zhi) and “Benevolent Governance”(Ren Zheng), has long permeated the realms of political leadership, public opinion, and statecraft, thus forming a critical ideological bedrock for state legitimation. The general deficit in political sophistication among the populace also often leads individuals to default to moral and emotional heuristics when evaluating governance and policy. Utilizing a mixed-methods design that incorporates experiments and interviews, our study examines how China’s moralized political narratives shape citizens’ attitudes toward the government, with a particular focus on the role emotions play in this dynamic. The findings offer refined perspectives on the relationship between morality, emotion, and political sentiment in contemporary China, thereby enhancing our understanding of moralization’s role in shaping diverse political landscapes.

Authors

• Jiayi Zhang, Peking University

• Yanjun Liu, Peking University