Expressive behaviors across discursive spaces and issue types

Abstract

Based on a representative survey of residents in Shanghai, this study explores how opinion expression is influenced by various factors that relate individuals to the authorities. The factors examined include political efficacy, fear of political repercussion, fear of social isolation, value of opinion consistency, and orienta-tion towards the official opinions. The impact of these factors is assessed according to their relationship with expressive behaviors across three discursive spaces (the private, the hybrid, and the public) and two issue domains (politics and livelihood).