Toward a hybrid democratic culture
Moral codes in public narratives about Covid in Taiwan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6414798 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ming-Cheng Miriam Lo (0000-0001-7931-8078, University of California, Davis, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 663-687 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Cultural Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2049-7113 • E-ISSN: 2049-7121 |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41290-025-00263-x |
| OpenAlex | W4411744094 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 38 |
A key question regarding democratic consolidation in nonwestern societies concerns how democratic cultures interact with local traditions. Existing research richly illustrates the competition between Western and nonwestern cultural codes, but the blending of different values remains understudied. Adopting a civil sphere theory (CST) perspective and drawing on a qualitative analysis of 327 news reports, this study examines the (anti-)democratic potential of code hybridization. I delineate three empirical patterns of how the codes of liberty, caring, and efficient bureaucracy were combined in narratives about civic solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. At its best, this hybrid culture facilitates imaginations of civic solidarity transcendent of national boundaries. At its worst, it encourages a developmental populism that demands unlawful and anti-democratic, but allegedly efficient, state actions in the name of “the people
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Biology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Democracy · Linguistics · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Public culture · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of culture · Anthropology · Cultural Studies · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Philosophy · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Virology
State and society in the Taiwan miracle
The Civil Sphere in East Asia
The Civil Sphere in Latin America
The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the Covid-19 pandemic
Confucianism, Economic Growth and Democracy
A small global village
How Taiwan’s Precautionary Approach Contained Covid-19
Democracy's DharmaReligious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan
Bowling Alone
Performing rituals of affliction
Countering populism through emotive transformation
Marking time in lockdown
Why meaning-making matters
The “Societalization” of pandemic unpreparedness
Lessons From Covid-19 Responses in East Asia
What Is Populism
The Populist Zeitgeist
The Populist Radical Right
Individual Empowerment, Institutional Confidence, and Vaccination Rates in Cross-National Perspective, 1995 to 2018
The Societalization of Social Problems
Civil Society as Democratic Practice
Office Obligation as Civil Virtue
The 'Public' up Against the State
Popular humanism as new religious movement
Hybrid Cultural Codes in Nonwestern Civil Society
The Civilizing Force of Social Movements
The Long and Winding Road
Civic Action
The historical emergence of a 'familial society' in Japan
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |