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Confucian Culture and Democratic Values: An Empirical Comparative Study in East Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Minxuan Huang Open the ORCID record for Minxuan Huang [Opens in a new window]
Minxuan Huang*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
*
Corresponding author. Email: hminxuan@foxmail.com
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Abstract

Many studies have been conducted on the link between Confucianism and democratic values in East Asia, but they have failed to account for the complex character of Confucianism and the possible impact of political systems. This study re-measures Confucian values into four dimensions—authoritarianism, familialism, collectivism, and harmoniousness—based on data from the fourth wave of the Asian Barometer survey. It then uses a multi-layer linear regression model to examine the relationship between the Confucian cultural values and the democratic values held by people in six East Asian societies at both the macro and micro levels. The findings demonstrate an asymmetrical pattern in the relationship between the various dimensions of Confucian cultural values and the democratic values of East Asia, collectivist values do not affect democratic values, while familial and authoritarian values have a significant and negative correlation with democratic values. Harmonious values have a significant and positive correlation with democratic values. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation between democratic institutions and the democratic values, and the relationship between the values of harmoniousness and collectivism and democratic values varies across countries with different political systems. This offers insightful material for reflection as we reconsider the connection between Confucianism and democracy in East Asia.

Keywords

Confucian cultural valuesEast AsiaDemocratic valuesDemocratic LearningPolitical Culture

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Article
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Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 71 - 101
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the East Asia Institute

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