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Attitudinal Differences within the Cultural Revolution Cohort: Effects of the Sent-down Experience*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2016

Robert Harmel  and
Yao-Yuan Yeh
Robert Harmel
Affiliation:
Political Science Department, Texas A&M University. Email r-harmel@tamu.edu.
Yao-Yuan Yeh
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced. Email: yyeh2@ucmerced.edu.
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Abstract

This study addresses whether individuals who were sent down during the Cultural Revolution reveal different political attitudes from those who were socialized during the same period but were not themselves sent down. Using data from the urban sample of the 2006 General Social Survey of China, the authors find evidence that formerly sent-down youth – and particularly sent-down women – as compared to their not-sent-down peers, are today more willing to accept the class-struggle foundation of Mao's communist ideology but are, at the same time, more willing to assess the performance and structure of the communist regime critically.

摘要

这篇文章研究在文化大革命时期上山下乡的经验是否会造成民众政治态度的变迁。我们使用 2006 年的中国综合社会调查, 比较经历过上山下乡的群众以及那些同时在文革时期社会化的人。我们的分析发现与那些在文革时期社会化但没有经历过上山下乡运动的人比较, 经历过上山下乡的人们, 尤其是女性, 比较容易接受毛泽东所谓的阶级冲突下的共产主义的概念; 但也同时发现, 上山下乡的民众更会对共产政体的表现以及其结构进行批判。

Keywords

ChinaCultural Revolutionsent-downpolitical attitudesgendersurvey中国文化大革命上山下乡运动政治态度性别差异民意调查
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 225 , March 2016 , pp. 234 - 252
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Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2016 

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Footnotes

*

Listing of names is alphabetical. Authorship is co-equal. Questions pertaining to data and quantitative methods may be directed to Yao-Yuan Yeh. The authors thank John Kennedy and Xinsheng Liu for their careful reading and helpful suggestions on earlier drafts.

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