Toward a Rational Civil Society: Deliberative Thinking, Civic Participation, and Self-Efficacy among Taiwanese Young Adults
| Author | Ming-Lun Chung,Ken Ka-wo Fung,Eric MP Chiu,Chao-Lung Liu |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211024440 |
| Published date | 01 November 2022 |
| Date | 01 November 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211024440
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(4) 608 –629
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299211024440
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Toward a Rational Civil
Society: Deliberative
Thinking, Civic Participation,
and Self-Efficacy among
Taiwanese Young Adults
Ming-Lun Chung1, Ken Ka-wo Fung2,
Eric MP Chiu3 and Chao-Lung Liu1
Abstract
To explore the mechanisms that foster rational, communicative, and actionable citizenship,
this research proposes a mediation as well as moderation research framework that links
deliberative thinking, political self-efficacy, social capital, and civic participation. Data from
865 Taiwanese university students are analyzed with structural equation modeling, showing a
positive association of deliberative thinking to political self-efficacy and civic participation, as
well as a positive association between them. Moreover, the association between deliberative
thinking and civic participation is significantly and positively mediated by political self-efficacy.
When background factors are controlled, only social capital is identified to be moderating any
associations between variables in this study. The established association between deliberative
thinking and political self-efficacy and that between deliberative thinking and the non-electoral,
as well as community-based dimensions of civic participation, are significantly weaker among
those possessing less social capital, while such differences are not significant in the case of
gender and household income. Based on these findings, the relative roles of deliberative
thinking, political self-efficacy, and social capital in promoting effective deliberative democracy
will be discussed.
Keywords
rational civil society, deliberative thinking, social capital, civic participation, political self-efficacy
Accepted: 23 May 2021
1Department of Public Affairs and Civic Education, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua,
Taiwan
2Department of Social Work, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan
3 Graduate Institute of National Policy and Public Affairs, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
Corresponding author:
Chao-Lung Liu, Department of Public Affairs and Civic Education, National Changhua University of
Education, Changhua, Taiwan 50007.
Email: chaolungliu@gmail.com
1024440PSW0010.1177/14789299211024440Political Studies ReviewChung et al.
research-article2021
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Chung et al. 609
Introduction
University students have traditionally played a leading role in social movements in
Taiwan, such as in the case of the Wild Lily movement in 1990 which urged for democ-
racy, as well as the Sunflower movement in 2014 calling for the suspension of the China–
Taiwan Free Trade Agreement. Such passion for participating in public affairs among
university students, however, is not unique to Taiwan (Nie et al., 1996; Verba et al., 1995).
In this regard, traditional political studies have pointed to the relevance of self-efficacy in
motivating civic participation. According to Dahl (1998), a sound democratic procedure
requires effective participation on the part of most community members (i.e. gaining
enlightened understanding and exercising ultimate autonomy over the agenda). These
standards resonate significantly with the idea of deliberative and participatory democ-
racy: It is believed that public deliberation can help policy decisions transcend the self-
interests and values of individuals engaging in collective rationality and communication
(Gutmann and Thompson, 1996; Valadez, 2001). Apart from contributing to self-efficacy
and willingness to participate in public affairs, deliberative thinking has gradually been
integrated as a core quality of proactive citizenship in view of establishing and maintain-
ing a rational civil society.
Since 1990, Taiwan has been democratized and engaged in reforming the tertiary edu-
cation curriculum, especially in many of the liberal arts disciplines. With the presence of
nascent elements of civic education such as the democratic process, human rights, consti-
tutional laws, critical thinking, and reasoning to community engagement, it is believed
that young adults in Taiwan are increasingly equipped with the sufficient knowledge and
skills, as well as the deliberative thinking required for civic participation. Given this con-
text, one core issue this study aims to address is to what extent are university students able
to think rationally and communicate with fellow citizens with different interests and opin-
ions upon receiving a formal education in the liberal arts.
In addition to the discussion regarding how deliberative thinking and self-efficacy are
related to civic participation, this study explores possible background factors which could
potentially condition the effectiveness of those motivators, such as gender, household
income, and social capital. This article will be structured as follows: conceptual frame-
work, method, results, discussion and implications, research limitations, and conclusion.
Conceptual Framework with Its Empirical Groundings
Political Efficacy and Participation
Political efficacy, an issue of great concern among scholars of politics for decades
(Abramson and Aldrich, 1982), refers to how individuals perceive the influences of their
political actions on the political system (Campbell et al., 1954) and is widely regarded as
a key predictor for political participation and proxy for the public to assess government
performance and their own political capacity: The higher the degree of self-efficacy, the
greater the resulting political trust, support, and participation (Aleksandra et al., 2011;
Almond and Verba, 1963; Craig et al., 1990; Finkel, 1985, 1987; Homero et al., 2017;
Yang and DeHart, 2016). The concept can be classified into two dimensions, namely,
internal political efficacy and external political efficacy (Acock et al., 1985; Anderson,
2010; Asher, 1974; Balch, 1974; Converse, 1972; Craig, 1979; Craig and Maggioto,
1982; Lane, 1959; Morrell, 2005; Niemi et al., 1991). The former indicates how citizens
perceive their ability to influence the political system, whereas the latter refers to how
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