Any suggestions to research mentalities of people under different types of governments?

I'm looking to do some research on how people think and behave in different types of governments. For example, people under a dictatorship are going to think and behave differently than people in a democracy. How they deal with authority, how they interact with each other, how educated they are, their general social beliefs, etc. Like how sometimes people like Jackie Chan come out and say things and you know it's because of the mentality of the Chinese government/society. Stuff like that. Any tips on getting started with research like that? Research on Behavior, mentality, psychology, social engineering, beliefs, things like that as they relate to different types of governments.