The Pliant Public
Ideology and Public Opinion in China
Forthcoming June 2027 University of Michigan PressChina Understandings Today
The Chinese Communist Party has long depended on ideology to set the agenda, communicate its priorities, and legitimize its rule. But ideology is in short supply for Chinese citizens. Public opinion is depolarized. Ordinary people have little sense of what left and right mean, and most of the people who put themselves on the right have the scale backwards.
Ideological commitments are largely detached from social cleavages. Since a depolarized public is ill-equipped to check the state, China’s leaders can make massive changes to government policy without triggering a broad backlash.
But depolarization cuts both ways. When citizens lack clear ideological commitments, it is easier for them to set aside their differences. If China’s leaders lost their performance legitimacy, depolarization could facilitate a broader challenge to party rule.