Behaviormetrika

Vol.42, No.2, 2015, 167–189

VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF
SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES
— NATIONAL CHARACTER, DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NORTH
AND SOUTH, AND GAPS BETWEEN THE VIETNAM WAR
GENERATION AND THE POST-WAR GENERATION —

Kiyohisa Shibai∗

This article explores the characteristics of Vietnamese social values identified in the
Asia Pacific Values Survey’s 2013 Vietnam survey data. The questions used in this
article fall into three categories: politics, international relations, and economics.
I analyze the characteristics of Vietnamese with respect to three aspects. The first
aspect is Vietnamese characteristics at the national level by comparing Vietnam with
other nations. The second aspect is differences between the North and South areas.
The third aspect is differences between the generation that experienced and remembers
the Vietnam War and the young generation of the post-Vietnam War era.
The most interesting group is the older generation of the South because they grew
up in a democratic and capitalist society and now live in a communist society, and they
experienced the Vietnam War. I mainly elucidate how their characteristics are different
from or similar to those of other Vietnamese groups.

1. Introduction
In this article, I aim to determine whether a social system and memory of a his-
torical event can affect people’s social values using statistical data from the Asia Pa-
cific Values Survey’s 2013 Vietnam survey data. (Yoshino, Hattori, Shibai, & Park,
2014).1) Ariely, Hornuf, and Mann (2014) state that Germans who grew up in East
Germany (German Democratic Republic) have different social values from Germans
who grew up in West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) even though East
Germany was integrated into the West German political and economic system more
than 20 years ago. Thus, in this case of the unified Germany we have some evidence
that the social system in which people grow up affects their values. In the East Ger-
man case, the social system changed from communism to democracy and capitalism.
Vietnam is also a reunified state, but the social system in South Vietnam changed
from democracy and capitalism to communism. Of course, South Vietnam’s democ-
racy and capitalism were less well developed than those of Germany, but I aim to
determine whether the social values of South Vietnamese that were shaped before the
unification persist today. In addition, a specific experience of Vietnamese, the Viet-
nam War, must be addressed because a change in the social system occurred with the
Vietnam War. Therefore, even if any particular characteristics are found in South

Key Words and Phrases: Asia-Pacific Values Survey, cross-national comparative survey, the Vietnam
War, communism, democracy, social values
∗ The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, 10–3 Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190–8562, Japan
1) See also the website of Cross-National Comparative Survey on National Character.

http://www.ism.ac.jp/˜yoshino/index e.html
 168 K. Shibai

Table 1: Respondent data for North Vietnam and South Vietnam

North South Total
Total respondents 425 575 1,000
Sampling area 14 22 36
Gender Male 210 282 492
Female 215 293 508
Age 18–35 years 205 297 502
36–49 years 138 182 320
≥50years 82 96 178
Income < 3,000,000 VND (Vietnam dong) 22 67 89
3,000,001–12,500,000 VND 275 389 664
≥ 12,500,001 VND 88 103 191
DK (don’t know)/NA (no answer)/other 40 16 56

Vietnamese, it is unclear whether the cause is the social system or the experience of
the Vietnam War.
More specifically, I analyze the characteristics of Vietnamese with respect to three
aspects. The first aspect is Vietnamese characteristics at the national level by com-
paring Vietnam with other nations: Japan, the United States, China, Taiwan, Korea,
Australia, Singapore, and India. This involves basic information about the Viet-
namese social consciousness and values. The second aspect is differences between the
North area and the South area. The third aspect is differences between the generation
that experienced and remembers the Vietnam War and the young generation of the
post-Vietnam War era.

2. Basic information about Vietnam

During its history, Vietnam has been frequently invaded by other countries. Viet-
nam has experienced many wars against great powers. China conquered Vietnam
several times in ancient times. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Vietnam fought against
France, Japan, and the United States for independence, and, immediately after the
withdrawal of the United States from the Vietnam War, China invaded the Paracel
Islands in 1974 and has controlled the islands ever since.
Vietnam was divided into two states from the end of World War II to 1976. While
North Vietnam had communism and a socialist economy, South Vietnam had democ-
racy and capitalism. Therefore, in modern Vietnam, people have experienced a variety
of environments:
1. Growing up in the social system of communism.
2. Growing up in the social system of democracy and now living in the social system
of communism, and
3. Born in the social system of communism after 1976.
It is also greatly important whether a respondent’s age is over 50 years or not in
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 169

Table 2: Characteristics of four groups

North South
Younger generation Communism Communism
(< 50 years) Post-Vietnam War Post-Vietnam War
Older generation Communism Democracy and communism
(≥ 50 years) Experience of the Vietnam War Experience of the Vietnam War

the survey year, 2013. A person who was 50 years old in 2013 would have been 11
years old when Vietnam was reunified. It is thought that people over 10 years of age
were affected by the social system of South Vietnam and remember the experience
of the Vietnam War. Therefore, in this article, Vietnamese under 50 years of age in
2013 are categorized as the younger generation, and Vietnamese 50 years old or older
in 2013 are categorized as the older generation. Almost all the gaps between those
18–35 years of age and those 36–49 years of age concerning the questions found in
this article are not statistically significant.
This article has three focal points. Firstly, I attempt to see if there are significant
differences between North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese based on how the social
system (democracy or communism, and capitalism or social economy) affects people’s
values. Secondly, significant differences between the older and younger generations
will be found because of the effect of the Vietnam War. Thirdly, I focus on the older
generation of the South that must have experienced the Vietnam War and the rapid
change of the social system.
My hypotheses to be tested are as follows:
1. Vietnamese social values are more or less similar to those in the Chinese cultural
region.
2. Concerning the questions on politics and economics, there are significant dif-
ferences between North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese because the social
system affects their values.
3. Concerning the questions on international relations, there will be significant dif-
ferences between the older and younger generations if the Vietnam War affects
people’s values.
4. For all categories of questions, the older generation of the South have specific
characteristics because the social system and the Vietnam War affected their
values.
The first hypothesis requires clarification of the basic characteristics of Vietnamese
in the cross-national survey. Vietnam’s culture is historically related to Chinese cul-
ture, despite Vietnam’s serious conflict with China, so its social consciousness may also
be similar even though Vietnam was regarded as a member of the Confucian culture
group in the “Global Cultural Map 2005–2007” published by the World Value Survey
(Inglehart & Welzel, 2010, p. 554). The reasoning behind the second hypothesis is
the fact that an ideology such as democracy or communism is based on political and
economic institutions. For example, people living in democracy value human rights
 170 K. Shibai

and hate any constraint imposed by a government. Therefore, it is expected that gaps
between people who have a social consciousness based on democracy and those who
have a social consciousness based on communism will be found for Q31, “Individuals
or Country.” If there is no gap, it will suggest that the social consciousness of people
in the South has been completely changed by the communist government. The third
hypothesis is derived from impressions of the allies and enemies during the Vietnam
War. The older generation may have a good impression of their allies and a bad
impression of their enemies, but the younger generation may have new impressions
of foreign countries based on the relationships in the post-Vietnam War era. The
fourth hypothesis is that only the older generation of the South may be significantly
different from the other three groups if both the social system and the experience
of the Vietnam War affected people’s values. However, because of their important
experience of their losing home country and the transformation of the social system,
I expect them to have some specific characteristics. I attempt to find differences in
the political and economic consciousness between Vietnamese living in the North and
those living in the South, and between the younger and older generations.

3. Effects of social systems on human values

The most famous argument about how a social system can affect human values
is Karl Marx’s criticism of capitalism and market economies. Market interactions
in which buyers and sellers trade items and negotiate the price of goods gradually
lead people to choose immoral policies, such as child labor and environmental pollu-
tion, to gain more profits. Finally, they lose their moral values with repeated market
interactions.
Folk and Szech (2013) explore this theory more clearly through experiments. The
subjects made their decisions in three types of situations: individual treatment, a
bilateral market, and a multilateral market. In the individual treatment, a subject
received 10 euros for killing his/her own mouse but no money if a mouse survived.
In the bilateral market, one seller and one buyer bargained over killing the seller’s
mouse for a total gain of 20 euros that the two parties split between themselves. In the
multilateral market, seven buyers and nine sellers bargained over the price of killing
a mouse. The results indicated that 45.9% of the subjects were willing to kill their
own mouse in the individual treatment, 72.2% in the bilateral market, and 75.9% in
the multilateral market. The difference between the results for the individual treat-
ment and the bilateral market is statistically significant (p <0.01, two-sample test of
proportions), and the difference between the individual treatment and the multilat-
eral market is statistically significant (p <0.01, two-sample test of proportions). The
results showed that people are more likely to make an immoral decision in a market
situation than in an individual situation, supporting Marx’s criticism.
Ariely et al. (2014) also show that a particular type of social system can worsen
people’s ethics. Their research question asks whether an economic and political sys-
tem affects people’s honesty. They survey the difference between Germans with a
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 171

Table 3: Cross tables for the trust scales (Q36, Q37, and Q38)
North South Total
Q36 People’s Help
Try to be helpful 67.8% 72.0% 70.2% χ2 = 2.009
Look out for themselves 32.2% 28.0% 29.8% (p = 0.156, n = 998)
Q37 People’s Fairness
Take advantage 88.4% 72.4% 79.2% χ2 = 37.965
Try to be fair 11.6% 27.6% 20.8% (p = 0.000, n = 995)
Q38 General Interpersonal Trust
Can be trusted 18.1% 27.1% 23.3% χ2 = 11.211
Can’t be too careful 81.9% 72.9% 76.7% (p = 0.001, n = 996)

family background in West Germany and Germans with a family background in East
Germany. The subjects chose the top or bottom of a die in their minds and rolled it
40 times. They gained a profit ranging from one euro to six euros according to the
number on the side of the die that they chose. The payout that subjects ultimately
received was determined by the random selection of a roll, with the experimenter
drawing a number from 1 to 40 from an envelope. Subjects earned one euro for each
dot on this particular roll. In this experiment, a subject could cheat by falsely re-
porting the number of the pips on the die with no proof of cheating. The results
showed that 60% of East Germans and 55% of West Germans reported 4, 5, or 6 pips,
while the probability that one of these numbers of pips would appear on the top is
50%. The difference between the reported integers by the West Germans and East
Germansis statistically significant (p <0.01, t-test). This indicates that people who
grew up in a communist society tend to cheat for profit more than people who grew
up in a democratic society. The results also indicate that the effects of the communist
system remained in people’s consciousness even though the system collapsed over 20
years ago.
How strongly does a social system affect human values? Does any social system
have stronger effects on human values than another system? These are questions
regarding states that have transformed their systems through revolution and democ-
ratization and, of course, reunified states like Germany and Vietnam. In Vietnam,
the results for “trust scale” questions (Q36, Q37, and Q38) indicate that people in
the South, which was a democracy, are more trustworthy than people in the North,
which is communist (see also Table 3, Table 4, and Figure 1). The answers suggest
that the democracy that vanished about 40 years ago continues to affect the social
consciousness of South Vietnamese.
South Vietnamese experienced a transformation from democracy to communism,
while East Germans experienced a transformation from communism to democracy.
Is there any difference between North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese? Does the
transformation of a social system also affect people’s consciousness? Ishikawa, Davy-
denko, and Dryakhlov (2014) show that, even in Russia, the transformation of the
economic system in the 1990s affected people’s sense of trust. As the first step in this
 172 K. Shibai

Table 4: Cross tables for the trust scales (Q36, Q37, and Q38) by generation
North North South South
18–49 years ≥50 years 18–49 years ≥50years
Q36 People’s Help
Try to be helpful 68.0% 67.1% 71.8% 72.9%
Look out for themselves 32.0% 32.9% 28.2% 27.1%
χ2 = 0.028 χ2 = 0.048
(p = 0.867, n = 423) (p = 0.827, n = 575)
Q37 People’s Fairness
Take advantage 88.9% 86.6% 72.5% 71.6%
Try to be fair 11.1% 13.4% 27.5% 28.4%
χ2 = 0.333 χ2 = 0.036
(p = 0.564, n = 423) (p = 0.849, n = 572)
Q38 General Interpersonal Trust
Can be trusted 17.7% 19.5% 26.9% 28.1%
Can’t be too careful 82.3% 80.5% 73.1% 71.9%
χ2 = 0.147 χ2 = 0.058
(p = 0.702, n = 421) (p = 0.810, n = 575)

research, I analyze some responses to political and economic questions from the 2013
Vietnam survey. The questions I use are as follows (all questions referred to in this
article are listed in the Appendix).

Political consciousness
Q18g. Importance in Daily Life – Politics
Q31. Individuals or Country
Q49. Contribution to the World
Q52. Trust in Organizations

International relations
Q2. Country for Friendship
Q3. Country to Be Born Again

Economic consciousness
Q14. Money or Free Time
Q15. Continuing Work or Retiring
Q16. The First Condition for One’s Own Work

Social systems are closely related to politics and economics, and they affected rela-
tionships with other countries during the Cold War. Generation gaps are also related
to political and economic values, especially in Vietnam, because the centrally planned
economy before 1986 was much different from the market economy of the Doi Moi pol-
icy. In addition, international relations during the Vietnam War were much different
from those of the post-Cold War era.
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 173

Japan 41.0% 50.1% Japan 36.2% 56.8%

USA 51.0% 44.0% USA 42.4% 52.6%
Beijing 71.8% 26.2% Beijing 31.5% 57.4%
Shanghai 65.5% 29.3% Shanghai 24.8% 57.9%
Taiwan 46.3% 50.7% Taiwan 39.2% 52.5%
Hong Kong 42.8% 44.2% Hong Kong 45.9% 39.6%
South Korea 51.7% 45.8% South Korea 42.9% 52.3%
Australia 59.2% 38.1% Australia 33.8% 63.2%
Singapore 49.7% 47.6% Singapore 48.1% 48.6%
India 56.0% 43.3% India 64.8% 33.9%
Vietnam 70.1% 29.7% Vietnam 78.8% 20.7%

Try to be helpful Look out for themselves Take advantage Try to be fair
Other DK Other DK

Japan 43.9% 48.0%

USA 31.4% 64.9%
Beijing 42.4% 56.3%
Shanghai 36.4% 59.1%
Taiwan 20.5% 76.9%
Hong Kong 21.0% 73.7%
South Korea 32.0% 66.0%
Australia 45.7% 51.4%
Singapore 34.0% 62.7%
India 44.5% 53.5%
Vietnam 23.2% 76.4%

Can be trusted Can't be too careful

Other DK

Figure 1: Response rates for the trust scale (Q36, Q37, and Q38) by counry

4. Political consciousness
An important difference between democracy and communism is whether civil lib-
erties such as freedom of speech and freedom of association are guaranteed or not, as
people living in a democratic society can easily criticize the government and author-
ities openly. In contrast, a communist government monitors political speeches and
behaviors, so people tend to keep their own real political inclinations secret for the
sake of their own security.
Table 5 contains the cross tables and results of the χ2 -test for political questions.
Figure 2 shows that “politics” is more important to Vietnamese than to those of
other nations. The response rate for “important” (6 and 7 on the scale, 37.7%) is
the highest in the survey, and the response rate for “not important” (1 and 2 on the
scale, 5.1%) is lowest in the survey. There are clear differences in political concerns
between the North and the South. For Q18g, 45.3% of the North respondents gave
a moderate opinion (3 to 5 on the scale), while 73.1% of the South respondents gave
clear opinions. Vietnam’s high political concern reflects the concerns of people in the
 174 K. Shibai

Table 5: Cross tables for political consciousness (Q18g, Q31, Q49, and Q52)
North South Total
Q18g 1 Not important at all 0.5% 3.3% 2.1%
2 2.1% 3.7% 3.0%
3 12.7% 10.4% 11.4%
4 32.1% 17.0% 23.4%
5 28.3% 17.9% 22.3%
6 13.0% 33.2% 24.6% χ2 = 90.118
7 Very important 11.3% 14.4% 13.1% (p = 0.000, n = 999)
Q31 If individuals are happy, 36.5% 42.9% 40.1%
only then will country as
whole improve
If country improves, only 21.2% 20.9% 21.0%
then can individuals be
happy
Improving country & 42.4% 36.2% 38.8%
making individuals χ2 = 4.842
happy are same thing (p = 0.089, n = 999)
Q49 Make positive efforts on en- 41.6% 46.4% 44.4%
vironmental issues
Resolve regional conflicts, 17.1% 13.6% 15.1%
provide assistance to
refugees
Promote scientific and tech- 27.2% 20.2% 23.2%
nological development
Extend economic support 6.0% 14.5% 10.9%
to nations & areas that
need it
Promote understanding be- 8.2% 5.2% 6.5% χ2 = 27.231
tween cultures and religions (p = 0.000, n = 989)
Q52 a. Religious Confident (very confident 83.2% 79.1% 80.8% χ2 = 2.593
organization and somewhat confident) (p = 0.107, n = 979)
b. The law and Confident 95.3% 93.0% 94.0% χ2 = 2.142
the legal system (p = 0.143, n = 998)
c. The press and Confident 87.7% 74.4% 80.1% χ2 = 27.207
the television (p = 0.000, n = 998)
d. The police Confident 84.7% 85.0% 84.9% χ2 = 0.027
(p = 0.871, n = 999)
e. National Confident 92.8% 93.4% 93.2% χ2 = 0.111
government (p = 0.739, n = 993)
bureaucracy
f. Parliament Confident 95.0% 96.2% 95.7% χ2 = 0.847
(p = 0.358, n = 989)
g. NPOs/NGOs Confident 91.3% 86.3% 88.4% χ2 = 5.560
(p = 0.018, n = 970)
h. Social welfare Confident 94.6% 86.7% 90.0% χ2 = 16.421
facilities (p = 0.000, n = 981)
i. The United Confident 93.6% 91.4% 92.3% χ2 = 1.649
Nations (p = 0.199, n = 960)
j. Science and Confident 96.6% 97.6% 97.1% χ2 = 0.873
technology (p = 0.350, n = 980)

South. However, there is no gap between the generations.

For Q31, the “country improves” answer corresponds to a communist ideology, but
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 175

Table 6: Cross tables for political consciousness (Q18g, Q31, Q49, and Q52) by generation
North South
18–49 years ≥ 50 years 18–49 years ≥ 50 years
Q18g 1 Not important at all 0.6% - 3.5% 2.1%
2 2.6% - 3.8% 3.1%
3 12.3% 14.6% 10.4% 10.4%
4 33.3% 26.8% 17.1% 16.7%
5 27.8% 30.5% 17.5% 19.8%
6 12.3% 15.9% 33.4% 32.3%
7 Very important 11.1% 12.2% 14.2% 15.6%
χ2 = 4.689 χ2 = 0.987
(p = 0.584, n = 424) (p = 0.986, n = 575)
Q31 If individuals are happy, 36.7% 35.4% 41.8% 47.9%
only then will country as
whole improve
If country improves, only 21.3% 20.7% 22.0% 15.6%
then can individuals be
happy
Improving country & mak- 42.0% 43.9% 36.2% 36.5%
ing individuals happy are χ2 = 0.101 χ2 = 2.228
same thing (p = 0.951, n = 416) (p = 0.328, n = 574)
Q49 Make positive efforts on 40.5% 46.3% 45.8% 49.5%
environmental issues
Resolve regional conflicts, 18.8% 10.0% 13.2% 15.8%
provide assistance to
refugees
Promote scientific and 26.5% 30.0% 20.1% 21.1%
technological development
Extend economic support 6.5% 3.8% 15.5% 9.5%
to nations & areas that
need it
Promote understanding 7.7% 10.0% 5.4% 4.2%
between cultures and χ2 = 4.956 χ2 = 2.865
religions (p = 0.292, n = 405) (p = 0.581, n = 573)
Q52 a. Religious Confident 84.1% 79.5% 77.6% 86.5%
organizations Not confident 15.9% 20.5% 22.4% 13.5%
χ2 = 0.958 χ2 = 3.781
(p = 0.328, n = 405) (p = 0.052, n = 574)
b. The law and Confident 95.9% 92.7% 93.3% 91.7%
the legal system Not confident 4.1% 7.3% 6.7% 8.3%
χ2 = 1.514 χ2 = 0.338
(p = 0.219, n = 423) (p = 0.561, n = 575)
c. The press and Confident 88.3% 85.4% 74.5% 73.7%
the television Not confident 11.7% 14.6% 25.5% 26.3%
χ2 = 0.531 χ2 = 0.030
(p = 0.466, n = 424) (p = 0.863, n = 574)
d. The police Confident 85.7% 80.5% 85.4% 83.3%
Not confident 14.3% 19.5% 14.6% 16.7%
χ2 = 1.370 χ2 = 0.265
(p = 0.242, n = 424) (p = 0.607, n = 575)
 176 K. Shibai

e. National Confident 92.9% 92.6% 93.1% 94.8%

government Not confident 7.1% 7.4% 6.9% 5.2%
bureaucracy χ2 = 0.009 χ2 = 0.372
(p = 0.923, n = 419) (p = 0.542, n = 574)
f. Parliament Confident 95.5% 92.7% 95.8% 97.9%
Not confident 4.5% 7.3% 4.2% 2.1%
χ2 = 1.097 χ2 = 0.928
(p = 0.295, n = 416) (p = 0.335, n = 573)
g. NPOs/ Confident 91.9% 88.6% 87.2% 81.9%
NGOs Not confident 8.1% 11.4% 12.8% 18.1%
χ2 = 0.861 χ2 = 1.846
(p = 0.353, n = 400) (p = 0.174, n = 570)
h. Social Confident 94.2% 96.2% 87.4% 83.2%
welfare facilities Not confident 5.8% 3.8% 12.6% 16.8%
χ2 = 0.488 χ2 = 1.268
(p = 0.485, n = 408) (p = 0.260, n = 573)
i. The United Confident 93.4% 94.7% 91.8% 89.4%
Nations Not confident 6.6% 5.3% 8.2% 10.6%
χ2 = 0.196 χ2 = 0.578
(p = 0.658, n = 392) (p = 0.447, n = 568)
j. Science and Confident 96.3% 97.4% 97.7% 96.9%
technology Not confident 3.7% 2.6% 2.3% 3.1%
χ2 = 0.227 χ2 = 0.228
(p = 0.634, n = 406) (p = 0.633, n = 574)

Japan 5.3% 5.9% 10.1% 23.2% 20.2% 12.3% 22.1%

US 20.7% 11.8% 16.4% 18.0% 16.2% 8.5% 8.0%

Beijing 22.3% 8.1% 9.4% 13.8% 11.3% 11.9% 23.0%

Shanghai 20.5% 8.4% 12.1% 15.4% 13.2% 11.0% 17.0%

Taiwan 27.4% 18.3% 16.0% 17.2% 10.3% 7.1% 3.4%

Hong Kong 19.6% 9.6% 14.9% 23.3% 13.6% 6.7% 8.7%

South Korea 4.3% 7.8% 16.4% 32.1% 18.8% 11.3% 6.5%

Australia 26.2% 12.6% 20.0% 18.5% 13.6% 4.7%4.0%

Singapore 5.9% 8.8% 15.3% 28.2% 22.3% 13.0% 6.3%

India 20.7% 15.6% 12.6% 12.9% 12.7% 12.8% 12.2%

Vietnam 2.1% 11.4% 23.4% 22.3% 24.6% 13.1%

3.0%

1 Not Important at all 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very Important Other DK

Figure 2: Response rates for Q18g, “Importance–Politics,” by country

only 21% of Vietnamese chose “country improves.” It has the lowest value in all
survey areas. Table 5 shows that the difference between the North and the South is
significant (p <0.1); 42.9% of South respondents answered “individuals are happy,”
while 36.5% of North respondents chose this answer. However, Table 6 shows that
the gap between generations is not statistically significant in the North or the South.
The only nations where the percentage for “individuals are happy” is higher than
that of “country improves” are Vietnam and South Korea. Even in the United States,
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 177

where individual rights are regarded as very important, “country improves” is the
most frequent answer. The answers to Q31 seem not to reflect differences in the
social systems (see Figure 3).
For Q49, “make positive efforts on environmental issues” drew the largest number
of responses from both the North and South. “Promote scientific and technological
development” ranks second in the North, and “extend economic support to nations
and areas that need it” ranks second in the South. The answer tendency of Vietnam is
similar to that of Taiwan. The top response is “make positive efforts on environmental
issues,” and the second most frequent response is “promote scientific and technolog-
ical development.” Only in Vietnam and Taiwan, the answer percentage for “make
positive efforts on environmental issues” is over 40% (see Figure 4).
For Q52, “science and technology” has the highest response rate of “confident” in
every nation. Trust in science and technology is considered an established value in
the Asia-Pacific region, as Yoshino (2005) shows the same results using data from the
East Asia Values Survey 2002–2005.
The answers to Q52 reveal one characteristic of Vietnamese (see Table 7). That
is, they tend to highly trust social organizations. The response rates for “confident”
(answering “very confident” or “somewhat confident”) are highest for eight of the ten
items in the survey areas. Only Singapore is similar to Vietnam. The response rates
for “confident” for all items are higher than 80%, and those of Singapore are higher
than those of Japan, Korea, Chinese cities, and Taiwan in the East Asia Values Sur-
vey 2002–2005, which did not include Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries
(Yoshino, 2005). High trust in social organizations can be considered a characteristic
of Southeast Asian people.
There are significant differences between the North and South for Q52, Law and
Legal System, Parliament, and NGOs. The percentages for “confident” in the South
are lower than those in the North. The lowest percentage is 74.4% for the law and the
legal system in the South. For the questions on political consciousness, there are some
significant differences between the North and the South but no significant difference
between generations in either area (see Table 6).

5. International relations
Communist Vietnam had close relationships with communist states during the Viet-
nam War, but now, Vietnam’s government is strengthening its relationship with the
United States politically and economically. In addition, those who grew up after the
Vietnam War seem to regard the invasions by France, Japan, and the United States
as past events. What impressions of foreign countries do they actually have?
Figure 5 and 6 show the response rates for Q2 and Q3 by nation. For Q2, the
United States is the most popular country in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by
China. It seems that economic power and the scale of the market are very important
factors. The United States is also the most popular country in Vietnam, but China,
which invaded the Paracel Islands immediately after the withdrawal of the United
 178 K. Shibai

Japan 24.5% 26.4% 47.4%

US 23.3% 33.9% 30.9%
Beijing 8.1% 50.1% 41.5%
Shanghai 18.8% 41.0% 38.2%
Taiwan 17.8% 25.6% 55.0%
Hong Kong 19.0% 21.5% 55.1%
South Korea 40.0% 29.0% 29.1%
Australia 26.6% 27.6% 39.7%
Singapore 23.3% 44.4% 30.3%
India 42.3% 48.5% 8.5%
Vietnam 40.1% 21.0% 38.8%

If individuals are happy, only then country as whole improve If country improves, only then can individuals be happy
Improving country, making individuals happy, are same thing Other
DK

Figure 3: Response rates for Q31, “Indivisuals or Country,” by country

Japan 38.5% 26.2% 15.5% 9.0% 10.8%

US 22.6% 21.4% 14.4% 11.1% 30.6%

Beijing 32.5% 21.2% 35.1% 8.3% 3.0%

Shanghai 27.3% 17.8% 43.3% 6.8% 4.8%

Taiwan 42.4% 11.8% 24.8% 13.6% 7.4%

Hong Kong 30.2% 28.1% 16.1% 14.8% 10.8%

South Korea 34.6% 25.3% 18.3% 13.9% 7.9%

Australia 22.8% 17.1% 15.3% 11.9% 32.9%

Singapore 30.7% 10.4% 11.3% 17.2% 30.4%

India 36.3% 27.8% 16.7% 8.8% 10.5%

Vietnam 44.4% 15.1% 23.2% 10.9% 6.5%

Make positive efforts on environmental issues Resolve regional conflicts, provide assistance to refugees,

Promote scientific and technological development Extend economic support to nations, areas that need it

Promote understanding between cultures and religions

Figure 4: Response rates for Q49, “Important Action for the Country,” by country

States from the Vietnam War and has controlled the islands ever since, is not popular
at all. Other popular countries in Vietnam are Japan and Russia. Russia is listed
only in Vietnam’s questionnaire because Vietnam’s research company advised us that
Vietnamese would choose Russia as an answer frequently.
The United States is the most frequent answer in the North and South, but the
gap is more than 10%. The most popular countries in the South are the United States
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 179

Table 7: Response rate for “confident” (answering “very confident” or “somewhat confident”)
regarding social organizations (Q52) by country
Religious Law and Press Police Federal Congress NPOs/ Social U.N. Science
organiza- legal and bureau- NGOs welfare and tech-
tions system television cracy facilities nology
Japan 13.5% 74.1% 70.2% 70.9% 39.1% 25.0% 53.1% 73.3% 64.9% 87.7%
U.S.A. 59.7% 56.8% 21.0% 65.6% 26.8% 22.8% 53.5% 49.9% 43.0% 76.9%
Beijing 28.1% 86.2% 67.6% 75.5% 83.9% 84.0% 43.3% 78.9% 62.9% 96.8%
Shanghai 40.8% 84.1% 66.0% 73.9% 81.6% 78.1% 54.7% 74.4% 64.9% 94.2%
Taiwan 75.9% 53.7% 44.7% 59.1% 46.1% 38.8% 59.1% 71.6% 64.3% 88.4%
Hong Kong 59.6% 87.9% 57.6% 70.7% 53.1% 55.2% 68.0% 83.2% 76.2% 89.1%
South Korea 41.8% 51.9% 63.7% 46.6% 34.8% 17.2% 44.6% 60.6% 71.8% 78.4%
Australia 44.5% 77.7% 32.7% 88.7% 47.9% 46.0% 75.2% 79.5% 64.1% 92.5%
Singapore 83.0% 93.9% 78.2% 92.8% 90.0% 89.2% 80.5% 83.9% 83.9% 92.7%
India 86.6% 79.7% 72.2% 59.9% 53.5% 59.6% 69.0% 77.4% 72.9% 93.0%
Vietnam 80.8% 94.0% 80.1% 84.9% 93.2% 95.7% 88.4% 90.0% 92.3% 97.1%
Total 57.0% 76.4% 59.9% 71.4% 59.7% 56.2% 62.9% 74.8% 69.5% 89.7%

Japan 50.0% 25.6%

US 9.6% 14.4% 33.0% 12.2%

Beijing 3.3% 19.4% 47.1%

Shanghai 3.5% 14.5% 54.4%

Taiwan 13.6% 10.7% 34.2% 32.0%

Hong Kong 7.4% 15.7% 36.5% 10.7%

South Korea 3.0% 56.3% 21.3%

Australia 5.4% 12.0% 17.7% 35.3%

Singapore 3.7% 14.4% 23.7% 30.8%

India 10.9% 49.7%

Vietnam 19.3% 12.8% 28.8% 8.1% 14.4%

Japan EU USA
China (Mainland) South Korea India
Singapore Australia Hong Kong
Taiwan An Asian Country Not Listed Russia
Other DK

Figure 5: Response rates for Q2, “Country for Friendship,” by country

and Japan, which were friendly with South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The
United States and Japan are also popular countries in the North, but Russia, the
most important ally during the Cold War, is the second most popular country. There
is also a large gap between the North and South in the response rates for South Korea
even though it was an ally of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War: 12.1% in the
North and 5.9% in the South (see Table 8).
A larger gap involving South Korea is shown in Table 9, which lists the answers
to Q3. Q3 is tended to capture a respondent’s real feelings about other countries,
while Q2 is meant to reflect a rational selection. Vietnam’s response rate for South
 180 K. Shibai

Table 8: Cross tables for Q2, “Country for Friendship,” by generation

Total North South North North South South
18–49 years ≥ 50 years 18–49 years ≥ 50 years
U.S.A. 30.1% 22.9% 35.1% 24.1% 17.9% 36.2% 29.3%
E.U. 13.4% 17.1% 10.7% 16.0% 21.8% 10.0% 14.1%
Russia 15.0% 20.2% 11.4% 17.9% 29.5% 11.3% 12.0%
China (Mainland) 4.5% 5.0% 4.1% 5.6% 2.6% 0.3% 3.3%
Japan 20.1% 16.6% 22.6% 17.9% 11.5% 21.5% 28.3%
South Korea 8.5% 12.1% 5.9% 11.9% 12.8% 6.0% 5.4%
India 0.6% 0.8% 0.5% 0.9% - 0.6% -
Singapore 3.0% 3.0% 3.0% 3.8% - 3.2% 2.2%
Australia 2.0% 1.5% 2.3% 1.3% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2%
Other Asian countries 2.8% 0.8% 4.3% 0.6% 1.3% 4.5% 3.3%
χ2 = 56.926 χ2 = 13.948 χ2 = 5.180
(p = 0.000, n = 958) (p = 0.124, n = 397) (p = 0.818, n = 561)

Japan 10.8% 52.2% 14.6%

US 7.0% 57.2% 12.9%

Beijing 3.6% 29.6% 21.0% 21.1%

Shanghai 8.6% 23.4% 22.8% 25.2%

Taiwan 38.8% 19.2% 17.5%

Hong Kong 14.8% 16.1% 18.6% 23.2% 10.1%

South Korea 7.0% 12.6% 56.5%

Australia 25.3% 28.6% 11.7%

Singapore 7.5% 31.1% 18.0% 13.0%

India 14.4% 17.6% 21.2% 10.8% 24.1%

Vietnam 20.4% 18.0% 11.6% 9.4% 8.9% 11.1% 4.7%

Japan China (Mainland) South Korea Taiwan Hong Kong

India Singapore Australia Russia USA

Vietnam Other DK
* We did not list “the United States” and “your own country” in Q3 because everyone
would have chosen them, but many Vietnamese answered “Other (the United States)” and
“Other (I still want to be born in Vietnam).”
Figure 6: Response rates for Q3, “Country to Be Born Again,” by country

Korea in Q3 is the highest among the survey areas. However, the breakdown is very
complicated. 13.9% of the South chose South Korea, while 28% of the North chose it.
In addition, the response rate of the older generation of the South is only 6.5%. The
older generation’s impression of South Korea in the South is much worse than that of
people in the North. However, there is no difference between the generations in the
North.
The tendencies of the Q2 and Q3 responses indicate that memories of the Vietnam
War highly affect the values of Vietnamese. 18.1% of the older generation in the North
chose Russia, while 10.5% of the younger generation in the North chose it, and more
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 181

Table 9: Cross tables for Q3, “Country to Be Born Again” by generation

Total North South North North South South
18–49 years ≥ 50 years 18–49 years ≥ 50 years
Russia 9.7% 12.0% 8.1% 10.5% 18.1% 8.2% 7.6%
China (not including Macau, 1.6% 1.9% 1.4% 2.0% 1.4% 1.7% -
Hong Kong, and Taiwan)
Japan 22.1% 20.9% 23.0% 19.9% 25.0% 21.7% 29.3%
South Korea 19.5% 28.0% 13.9% 28.4% 26.4% 15.4% 6.5%
Taiwan 3.0% 3.3% 2.9% 3.0% 4.2% 3.0% 2.2%
Hong Kong 3.0% 2.4% 3.4% 2.7% 1.4% 3.3% 4.3%
India 1.0% 0.8% 1.1% 0.7% 1.4% 1.1% 1.1%
Singapore 12.6% 12.0% 13.0% 14.2% 2.8% 13.7% 9.8%
Australia 10.2% 7.1% 12.3% 6.8% 8.3% 13.7% 5.4%
U.S.A. 12.1% 11.7% 12.3% 11.8% 11.1% 11.9% 14.1%
Vietnam 5.1% - 8.5% - - 6.3% 19.6%
χ2 = 64.842 χ2 = 11.233 χ2 = 29.716
(p = 0.000, n = 921) (p = 0.260, n = 368) (p = 0.001, n = 553)

people who grew up after the Vietnam War in the North and the South chose the
United States for Q2 than those who are 50 years old or older. Also, only respondents
from the South named Vietnam, including 19.6% of those 50 years old or older. “The
United States” and “your own country” were not listed for Q3 because everyone would
have chosen them, but many Vietnamese answered them as “Other”. This is one of
the characteristics of Vietnamese in this cross-national survey. Older people in the
South may be deeply attached to their own country because they experienced losing
their native country and because some of them defected from the reunified Vietnam
for political reasons.

6. Economic consciousness
Shibai and Yoshino (2013) show that people want more material wealth, such as
money, when the domestic economy is not developed, but they want more nonmate-
rial wealth, such as a feeling of achievement, after the domestic economy has been
sufficiently developed. The economy of Vietnam has been developing since the 2000s,
after the end of isolation from the international community, even though Vietnam
is still considered a developing country. South Vietnam’s economic system changed
from market economy mechanisms to centrally planned economy in 1970s, and uni-
fied Vietnam introduced market economy mechanisms under the Doi Moi policy in
1980s. Is there any difference between the North and the South concerning economic
consciousness?
The response patterns of Vietnam for Q14, Q15, and Q16 are similar to those of In-
dia, which is also classified as a developing country and whose domestic economy has
been developing, as it is in Vietnam. It is only in India and Vietnam that more than
80% chose “continue to work” for Q15 and more than 40% chose “a good income” for
Q16 (see Figure 7, 8, and 9).
Table 10 indicates that there are some differences between the North and South.
Even though the majority of the North and the South chose “more money” for Q14,
 182 K. Shibai

Japan 55.8% 39.6%

US 71.0% 25.8%
Beijing 71.7% 27.0%
Shanghai 74.5% 23.7%
Taiwan 69.3% 28.6%
Hong Kong 55.9% 39.0%
South Korea 60.1% 38.4%
Australia 57.4% 40.3%
Singapore 48.0% 44.1%
India 66.3% 31.5%
Vietnam 70.7% 29.1%

More money More free time Other DK

Figure 7: Response rates for Q14, “Money or Free Time,” by country

Japan 62.8% 31.1%

US 56.0% 37.2%
Beijing 78.1% 19.6%
Shanghai 63.8% 31.4%
Taiwan 73.5% 23.3%
Hong Kong 57.8% 36.5%
South Korea 64.4% 34.1%
Australia 63.8% 31.1%
Singapore 71.6% 26.7%
India 84.3% 15.4%
Vietnam 89.9% 10.0%

Continue to work Stop working Other DK

Figure 8: Response rates for Q15, “Continuing to Work or Retire,” by country

“continue to work” for Q15, and “a good income” and “a safe job with no risk of
closing down or unemployment” for Q16, the differences are statistically significant.
More respondents from the South chose “more money” for Q14 and “a good income”
for Q16 than respondents from the North. Concerning the economy, there are a few
gaps between generations. Table 11 shows that, in the South, the differences in the
responses for Q14 and Q15 are statistically significant; the younger generation prefers
“free time” and “stop working” more than the older generation. The characteristics
of the younger generation, the members of which have mainly grown up in a market
economy in an environment of economic development, are similar to those of people
in Japan and Hong Kong. In contrast, the younger generation of the North prefers
“more money” more than the older generation.
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 183

Japan 16.0% 19.4% 24.4% 38.6%

US 34.9% 22.5% 9.2% 31.8%
Beijing 21.4% 14.6% 29.3% 34.2%
Shanghai 31.8% 17.4% 26.0% 23.7%
Taiwan 28.7% 16.2% 27.9% 25.9%
Hong Kong 20.1% 10.9% 33.9% 30.6%
South Korea 35.5% 21.9% 22.1% 20.0%
Australia 27.2% 18.9% 13.4% 40.0%
Singapore 37.5% 25.1% 17.9% 19.0%
India 41.7% 43.1% 10.3% 4.5%
Vietnam 48.8% 24.3% 11.9% 15.0%

Good income so don't have to worry about money Safe job with no risk of closing down or unemployment
Working with people you like Doing important job which gives you a feeling of accomplishment
Other DK

Figure 9: Response rates for Q16, “First Condition for One’s Own Work,” by country

Table 10: Cross tables for labor consciousness (Q14, Q15, and Q16)
North South Total
Q14 Money or Free Time
More money 66.2% 74.3% 70.8% χ2 = 7.678
More free time 33.8% 25.7% 29.2% (p = 0.006, n = 998)
Q15 Continuing to Work or Retire
Continue to work 92.5% 88.2% 90.0% χ2 = 4.960
Stop working 7.5% 11.8% 10.0% (p = 0.026, n = 999)
Q16 The First Condition for One’s Own Work
A good income so that you do not have 46.1% 50.8% 48.8%
any worries about money
A safe job with no risk of closing down or 31.1% 19.3% 24.3%
unemployment
Working with people you like 7.8% 15.0% 11.9%
Doing an important job that gives you a 15.1% 15.0% 15.0% χ2 = 25.608
feeling of accomplishment (p = 0.000, n = 1000)

For Q16, there is no gap between generations in the North and South. This is one
characteristic of the North, as 31.1% of the respondents chose “a safe job” for Q16
because the unemployment rates were not so different between the North and South
for several years, including 2013, when the survey was conducted. Ho Chi Minh
City’s unemployment rate among the statutory working age population was worse
than Hanoi’s unemployment rate in 2011 and 2012 (see Table 12).

7. Summary
The results show that the first hypothesis, that Vietnamese social values are simi-
lar to those of the Chinese cultural region, is not correct (Figure 1–9). The response
patterns for all questions in Vietnam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan are
 184 K. Shibai

Table 11: Cross tables for labor consciousness (Q14, Q15, and Q16) by generation
North North South South
18–49 years 50 years or 18–49 years 50 years or
older older
Q14 Money or Free Time
More money 68.1% 58.0% 76.6% 62.5%
More free time 31.9% 42.0% 23.4% 37.5%
χ2 = 2.988 χ2 = 8.339
(p = 0.084, n = 423) (p = 0.004, n = 575)
Q15 Continuing to Work or Retire
Continue to work 92.7% 91.4% 89.4% 82.3%
Stop working 7.3% 8.6% 10.6% 17.7%
χ2 = 0.172 χ2 = 3.824
(p = 0.678, n = 424) (p = 0.051, n = 575)
Q16 The First Condition for One’s Own Work
A good income so that you do not have 46.9% 42.7% 50.3% 53.1%
any worries about money
A safe job with no risk of closing down or 30.9% 31.7% 19.6% 17.7%
unemployment
Working with people you like 7.3% 9.8% 15.0% 14.6%
Doing an important job that gives you a 14.9% 15.9% 15.0% 14.6%
feeling of accomplishment
χ2 = 0.835 χ2 = 0.298
(p = 0.841, n = 425) (p = 0.960, n = 575)

very different. The second hypothesis is correct only with regard to political conscious-
ness, which differs between the North and South. The third hypothesis is correct: the
international relations consciousness differs not only between the North and South
but also between the older generation and the younger. The fourth hypothesis may
not be correct because the political consciousness does not differ between the older
and younger generations in the South, and the results of Q2 and Q3 show that the
memory of the Vietnam War affects their consciousness.
Concerning political consciousness, there are differences between the North and
South but not between generations. People living in the South are more interested
in politics than those living in the North, but their trust in political and legal orga-
nizations is lower than that of people living in the North. Those living in the South
prefer individual happiness to improving the country.
Concerning economic consciousness, there is no clear difference not only between
generations but also between the North and South. The results for the economic
questions indicate that the national economic development affects the values of Viet-
namese more than the social system does. There have been two turning points in
Vietnamese economic history. The first was the introduction of capitalism, especially
in the South, through French colonialism in the early 20th century (Merette, 2013);
the second was the introduction of the Doi Moi policy in the 1980s.
The specific characteristics of the older generation of the South are reflected only
with respect to international relations. The older generation in the South has a worse
impression of South Korea than others do. The older generation in the North has a
better impression of Russia than others do. The younger generations of the North
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 185

Table 12: Unemployment rate of the statutory working age population by socio-economic region
2011 2012 2013
Total 2.22 1.96 2.2
North Hanoi 2.38 2.10 3.7
North Northern Midlands and Mountains 0.87 0.75 0.8
North Red River Delta (excluding Hanoi) 1.81 1.81 2.1
North and South* North and South Central Coast 2.28 2.21 2.2
South Central Highlands 1.31 1.47 1.5
South Southeast (excluding Ho Chi Minh City) 1.97 1.66 2.0
South Mekong River Delta 2.77 2.17 2.4
South Ho Chi Minh City 4.52 3.70 3.4
Sources: General Statistics Office of Vietnam, Report on Labour Force Survey
2011–2013.
* This is unified data from two socioeconomic regions, the North Central Coast
(North) and Central Coast (South).

and the South have a better impression of the United States. I believe that the reason
is memories of the Vietnam War. The Soviet Union was the most important ally of
North Vietnam, but its importance has deteriorated in the post-Cold War era, while
the United States was the most important ally of South Vietnam and is now the most
important country economically to the reunified Vietnam. The reason the impression
of South Korea is much different between the North and South may be that South
Korean soldiers massacred and raped many South Vietnamese, nominally to detect
Vietcong, during the Vietnam War. The South Vietnamese people may have not for-
gotten the tragedy. The impressions of Japan, also an ally of South Vietnam during
the Vietnam War, are better in the South than in the North, and the older generation
has a better impression of Japan than the younger generation in both the North and
South. If Vietnamese strongly remembered and hated the invasion by the Empire of
Japan, all generations’ impressions of Japan would be similar or the older generations
of both areas would have a bad impression of Japan, but the results correspond to the
relationships that existed during the Vietnam War. However, the impressions may
have improved because the younger generation’s impressions of the United States and
South Korea are better than those of the older generation, so the younger generation
may evaluate the United States and South Korea based not only on the memory of
the war but also on the current good relationships.
The results indicating that the political consciousness of the older generations have
been inherited by the younger generations while the economic and international rela-
tions consciousness of the older generations have not been inherited by the younger
generations mean that the economic and international relations consciousness changed
after reunification but that the political consciousness has not changed. It is assumed
that the causes are the Doi Moi policy, economic growth, and Vietnam’s return to
the international community. In contrast, it is difficult to determine the cause of the
political consciousness of South Vietnamese, but the results indicate that it will be
very difficult to replace the nation’s political consciousness with another ideology and
that the effect of the social system on people’s consciousness will persist for a long
 186 K. Shibai

time even though the government and the counterforce against the transformation of
the ideology have vanished. In the international community, democratization is an
important task for Western countries, especially the United States, but the challenges
are not going well. The United States is trying to democratize Afghanistan and Iraq,
but incidents of terrorism and rebellion against the new governments have occurred
frequently for more than a decade. If it is correct that it is difficult to change a
political consciousness in a short period, as evidenced by the results for the South
Vietnamese, democratization requires more time and the United States must correct
its plans.
I have derived new tasks from the results. The first is to determine whether the
new hypotheses concerning the economic and international relations consciousness
are correct. The second is to find the cause of the lack of change in the political
consciousness of South Vietnamese.

Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science & Technology, Grant in Scientific Research S, No.22223006 (2010–2014 fiscal
years).

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Appendix. Questions referred to in the article

Q2 Which one of the following countries or regions would you like to see develop
the friendliest relationship for our own national interest?
1. U.S.A. 6. South Korea
2. E.U. (European Union) 7. India
3. Russia 8. Singapore
4. China (not including Macao, 9. Australia
Hong Kong, and Taiwan) 10. Asian country other than China, India,
5. Japan Japan, Singapore, and South Korea
 188 K. Shibai

Q3 If you could be born again, which of the following Asian or Pacific countries or
areas would you like to be born in, with the exception of Vietnam?
1. Russia 5. Taiwan
2. China (not including Macao, 6. Hong Kong
Hong Kong, and Taiwan) 7. India
3. Japan 8. Singapore
4. South Korea 9. Australia

Q14 If you had to choose one, which would you prefer, more money or more free
time?
1. More money
2. More free time

Q15 If you were to get enough money to live as comfortably as you would like for
the rest of your life, would you continue to work, or would you stop working?
1. Continue to work
2. Stop working

Q16 Here are some of the things people usually take into account in relation to
their work. Which one would you personally place first?
1. A good income so that you do not have any worries about money
2. A safe job with no risk of closing down or unemployment
3. Working with people you like
4. Doing an important job that gives you a feeling of accomplishment

Q18g Politics On a scale of 1 to 7, where “7” is “very important” and “1” is

“not important at all,” can you tell me how important each of the
following is to you?

Q31 Please choose from among the following statements the ONE with which you
agree most.
1. If individuals are made happy, then and only then will the country im-
prove as a whole improve.
2. If the country as a whole improves, then and only then can individuals
be made happy.
3. Improving the country and making individuals happy are the same thing.

Q36 Would you say that, most of the time, people try to be helpful or that they
are mostly just looking out for themselves?
1. Try to be helpful
2. Look out for themselves
 VIETNAMESE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND VALUES 189

Q37 Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they
got the chance, or would they try to be fair?
1. Take advantage
2. Try to be fair

Q38 Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that
you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?
1. Can be trusted
2. Can’t be too careful

Q49 The next question concerns politics as well as the relationships between Viet-
nam and the world.
1. Make positive efforts on environmental issues
2. Resolve regional conflicts, provide assistance to refugees or participate
in peacekeeping operations
3. Promote scientific and technological development
4. Extend economic support to nations and areas that need it
5. Promote mutual understanding between different cultures and religions

Q52 How much confidence do you have in the following – very confident, somewhat
confident, not confident, or not confident at all?
a. Religious organizations f. Parliament
b. The law and the legal system g. NPOs/NGOs
c. The press and the television h. Social welfare facilities
d. The police i. The United Nations
e. National government bureaucracy j. Science and technology

(Received January 22 2015, Revised May 25 2015)