Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Culture and Compliance

博士论文研究：法律的文化与遵从伊丽莎白·博伊尔廖文杰明尼苏达大学摘要尽管中国最近经历了多次转型，民主程度较低，但中国人民信任并接受他们的法院和法律的制度高于任何其他社会机构。本研究探讨了在一个专制和不断变化的社会中，人们如何以及为什么理解、珍视和遵守法律。虽然有些人认为胁迫或合法性是核心解释，但我们进一步测试这些因素的相互关系。为了更好地理解社会转型对法律支持的作用，我们探讨了重要历史事件和人物的记忆如何影响法律支持的水平和性质。研究设计结合了社会调查和深入访谈，在一个主要的省会城市，成都，在西南内陆中国。调查将询问人们遵守（不遵守）法律的倾向以及他们对不同类型法律的合法性的评价（即，他们认为每项法律在多大程度上反映了他们所支持的社会价值观）和相关的惩罚（即，他们认为违反某些法律将导致严厉惩罚的可能性有多大）。 调查还询问了中国历史上重要事件和人物的记忆。 调查之后将进行半结构化的访谈，受访者的子样本。访谈将揭示人们对法律合法性认知的形成机制。更广泛的影响：该项目将法律的合规性研究扩展到西方世界之外。中国人口占世界人口的四分之一，是转型期最大、最具影响力的社会之一。仔细研究中国的法律的遵守情况，将加深对权力和权威如何塑造个人思想的理解。它将产生更全面地了解中国社会和文化的数据，这些数据将在中国内外的学术社区中共享。

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Culture and ComplianceElizabeth BoyleWenjie LiaoUniversity of MinnesotaAbstractDespite China's numerous recent transitions and low level of democracy, the Chinese people trust and embrace their courts and legal system above any other social institutions. This research examines how and why people in an authoritarian and changing society understand, valorize, and obey the law. While some suggest that either coercion or legitimacy is the central explanation, we go further to test the interrelationship of these factors. We hypothesize that the precise role each plays will vary with the type of law considered.To better understand the role of societal transitions on support for law, we explore how memories of important historical events and figures affect the level and nature of support for law. The research design combines a social survey and in-depth interviews in a major provincial capital city, Chengdu,in southwest inland China. The survey will inquire about people's tendency toward legal (non-)compliance and their evaluation of different types of laws in terms of their legitimacy (i.e., how much they think each law reflects social values they support)and associated punishments (i.e., how likely they think the violation of certain laws will entail harsh punishment). The survey also inquires about memories of important events and figures in Chinese history. The survey will be followed by semi-structured interviews with a subsampleof the respondents. The interviews will uncover the mechanisms that shape people's perceptions of laws' legitimacy.Broader Impact: This project expands legal compliance research beyond the boundaries of the Western world.With a quarter of the world's population, China constitutes one of the largest and most influentialsocieties in transition. A careful look into legal compliance in China will deepen understanding of how power and authority shape individuals' minds. It will produce data for more comprehensive insight into Chinese society and culture that will be shared in scholarly communities inside and outside of China.