Cultural Values and Political Trust: A Comparison of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan

Although researchers have found that political culture plays an important role in shaping people's preferences and that their preferences will in turn influence their attitudes towards government, the cultural impact of political trust has been largely ignored. This article seeks to bring culture back into the study of political trust. Using survey data gathered from the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, the analysis demonstrates that people with different cultural orientations react to similar governmental behavior in different ways. The different institutional settings in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan also make it possible to examine whether the impact of culture on political trust can be reduced to structures and institutions. Political culture has a significant impact on political trust, but it can not be reduced to institutions or structures.