East Asian Exceptionalism-Rejoinder

摘要

This short note calls for a more careful examination of value patterns in East Asia, focusing on the applicability for that region of the Self-expression Index constructed by Welzel (2005). We show that in East Asia, acceptance of homosexuality, a core component of the index, has a correlation with the other components that is opposite to what we observe in the rest of the world. Further analysis indicates that conservative attitudes toward homosexuality in East Asia have no negative influence on undermining people's aspirations for democracy. Such an anomaly provides strong empirical evidence that the Self-Expression Index has limited cross-cultural validity.