Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Culture and Compliance

博士论文研究：法律文化与合规尽管中国最近经历了多次过渡和民主水平较低，但中国人比任何其他社会机构都更信任并接受他们的法院和法律制度。这项研究考察了在一个威权和不断变化的社会中，人们如何以及为什么理解、评价和遵守法律。虽然有些人认为胁迫或合法性是核心解释，但我们进一步检验了这些因素之间的相互关系。为了更好地理解社会转型对法律支持的作用，我们探索了对重要历史事件和人物的记忆如何影响对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，在西南内陆的省会城市成都，中国。这项调查将询问人们对法律(不)遵守的倾向，以及他们对不同类型法律的合法性(即，他们认为每一项法律在多大程度上反映了他们支持的社会价值观)和相关惩罚(即，他们认为违反某些法律会受到严厉惩罚的可能性)的评价。该调查还询问了人们对中国历史上重要事件和人物的记忆。调查结束后，将对部分受访者进行半结构化访谈。访谈将揭示塑造人们对法律合法性认知的机制。更广泛的影响：该项目将法律合规研究扩展到西方世界的边界之外。中国拥有世界四分之一的人口，是转型中最大、最具影响力的社会之一。仔细研究中国的法律合规行为，将加深人们对权力和权威如何塑造个人思想的理解。它将为更全面地洞察中国社会和文化提供数据，这些数据将在中国内外的学术社区中分享。

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.