attitudes, English, Japan, language
What explains public attitudes towards a former aggressor state? Conventional wisdom would suggest the prevalence of negative sentiments rooted in historical hatred. In this article we contend that when individuals are proficient in a foreign language—e.g. a lingua franca—they have an alternative channel through which they are exposed to positive narratives put forth by other parties regarding the former aggressor state. And as a result, their attitudes towards the former aggressor state are more positive than those held by their linguistically limited counterparts. To test our argument, we focus on public attitudes towards the Japanese in Mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan—three Chinese-ethnic majority political units that experienced Japanese aggression leading up to and during World War II. Using survey data, we demonstrate that individuals who are proficient in the English language are much more likely to hold positive attitudes of the Japanese. These results are robust even when we consider whether some individuals are predisposed to being cosmopolitan; whether some individuals have more opportunities to learn English; and whether the linguistic effects are symptomatic of American soft power. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jea.2019.41
Dr. Yue Hu is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Tsinghua University. His research interest lies in language politics, political culture, and inequality. His work has explored the language attitudes towards street bureaucrats, socioeconomic inequality in the US and China, as well as political functions of informal education facilities (e.g., museums). Some of his studies have been published in Journal of Politics, Democratization, Chinese Sociological Review, and others. He is also one of the primary creators and maintainers of the R packages ‘dotwhisker’ and ‘interplot’. Amy H. Liu (corresponding author; amy.liu@austin.utexas.edu) is an associate professor in the Government Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her first book Standardizing Diversity examines the politics of language regimes in Asia. Her second book The Language of Political Incorporation looks at the linguistic networks of Chinese migrants and their engagement with local authorities in Europe. Amy’s work has also appeared in British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, International Migration, Journal of Politics, and World Politics.