Reza Hasmath, University of Alberta
China is experiencing increased socio-economic inequalities and reported social discontent in the 2020s. At the same time, the Chinese state has reimagined the desired characteristics of a model citizen in the domain of philanthropy and volunteerism. Given the Chinese state’s signaling to suggest that a morally good citizen is one who engages in charity work and volunteerism, the question remains why do we witness relatively high levels of citizen inaction in this domain? Leveraging data from the 2023 Chinese Altruistic Behaviour Survey, a national survey conducted by the speaker that develops a socio-psychological profile of the altruistic citizen, this talk delineates behavioral attributes of the citizenry that accounts for their philanthropic and voluntary action or inaction. The talk further discusses the implications of these findings for the future of state and civil society relations, and more acutely, for the state’s strategies for increasing philanthropic and voluntary action amongst the citizenry.