Abstract
Generally speaking, we can define collective action by its two properties: its relation with the existing system and the degree of its organization. Regarding the former, collective action is basically action outside the system.
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Notes
- 1.
There are different views on whether Chinese social psychology is based on collectivism or individualism (Wang 2008: 221–230). Here, though, we are speaking of orthodox collectivism of the grand tradition.
- 2.
We speak in general terms, of course, and there were bottom-up collective actions in that era as well. Given a set of conditions, especially when people’s lives are threatened or in jeopardy, collective actions may be inevitable. For instance, during the Great Leap Forward when there was a pervasive famine, there were large-scaled collective incidents in which people fought for food (Yin 2011).
- 3.
The writer has once believed that the major contradiction facing the Chinese society was “the contradiction between the people’s growing awareness that they have rights and can made demands and the lack of awareness, mechanism, and ability on the part of the government to satisfy and protect people’s legitimate rights”. This may explain to a degree the large amount of group incidents today (Wang 2011).
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© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. and Social Sciences Academic Press
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Wang, X., Feng, T. (2017). Collective Action. In: Zhou, X. (eds) Inner Experience of the Chinese People. Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4986-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4986-6_13
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