The political role of middle class in China: disentangling democratic attitudes and values

China's middle class is found to differ in their democratic orientations – compared to the middle class in the non-state sector, a state sector middle class is believed to show lower support for democracy. Based on data from the Asian Barometer Survey 2019, we contend that democratic attitudes and democratic values are distinct dispositions. Despite displaying weaker attitudes towards the standard Western democratic institutions - such as multiparty elections and free media - the state sector middle class exhibits equally strong democratic values as the non-state sector middle class. On the other hand, compared to other social classes, while the non-state sector middle class shows stronger democratic values, it nonetheless holds a similar level of democratic attitudes. A most similar systems design and a joint method of agreement and difference reveal how values and attitudes are shaped respectively by early existential security and the structural constraints/stimuli one faces.