Social capital is generally believed to facilitate protest mobilization. We examine, however, whether and how it might reduce an individual’s tendency to join a protest. Analyzing survey data of a migrant population in Beijing, China’s capital, we find that social capital operating as better embeddedness in local social networks lowers the likelihood of protest participation. We reason that, structurally, embeddedness in local networks provides access to support and assistance, reducing the attractiveness of disruptive means of problem-solving. Psychologically, such embeddedness mitigates the feeling of relative deprivation, reducing the possibility of such feelings accumulating and eventually translating into protesting actions. Regressions and structural equation models confirm our hypotheses, and we are also able to check the robustness of our findings with a different, much larger, cross-national dataset.
BestSamuel J.KruegerBrian S.. 2011. “Government Monitoring and Political Participation in The United States: The Distinct Roles of Anger and Anxiety.” American Politics Research39 (1): 85-117.
2.
BianYanjie. 1997. “Bringing Strong Ties Back In: Indirect Ties, Network Bridges, and Job Searches in China.” American Sociological Review62 (3): 366-85.
3.
BlocqDanielKlandermansBertVan StekelenburgJacquelien. 2012. “Political Embeddedness and the Management of Emotions.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly: 17 (3): 319-34.
4.
BöcklerNilsPeterSitzerSeegerThorstenHeitmeyerWilhelm, eds. 2012. School Shootings: International Research, Case Studies, and Concepts for Prevention. New York: Springer.
5.
BourdieuPierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for The Sociology of Education, edited by RichardsonJohn G., 241–58. New York: Greenwood Press.
6.
BurtRonald. 1997. “The Contingent Value of Social Capital.” Administrative Science Quarterly42: 339-65.
7.
CaiYongshun. 2008. “Disruptive Collective Action in China During the Reform Period.” In Popular Protest in China, edited by O’BrienKevin, 163-78. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
8.
CarenNealGabySarahHerroldCatherine. 2017. “Economic breakdown and collective action.” Social Problems64 (1): 133-155.
9.
ColemanJames S.1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” The American Journal of Sociology94: S95-S120.
CoserLewis A.1956. The Functions of Social Conflict. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
12.
DengYanhuaO’BrienKevin J.. 2013. “Relational Repression in China: Using Social Ties to Demobilize Protesters.” China Quarterly215: 533-552.
13.
EdwardsBobFoleyMichael W.. 1997. “Social Capital and the Political Economy of Our Discontent.” American Behavioral Scientist40 (5): 669-678.
14.
FanonFrantz. 1966. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.
15.
GallagherMary E. 2005. “Use the Law as Your Weapon: Institutional Change and Legal Mobilization in China.” In Engaging the Law in China: State, Society, and Possibilities for Justice, edited by DiamantNeilLubman JeffreyStanley B.O’BrienKevin J., 54-83. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
16.
GallagherMary E. 2006. “Mobilizing the Law in China: ‘Informed Disenchantment’ and the Development of Legal Consciousness.” Law & Society Review40 (4): 783-816.
17.
GeschwenderJames A.1968. “Explorations in the Theory of Social Movements and Revolutions.” Social Forces47: 127-135.
18.
GidronNoamHallPeter A.. 2020. “Populism as a Problem of Social Integration.” Comparative Political Studies53 (7): 1027-59.
19.
GlaeserStephanie. 2016. “The Irony of Social Trust: Individual-level and Contextual-level Links with Protest Intention and Radical Right Support in Switzerland.” Community and Applied Social Psychology26 (2): 110-24.
20.
GranovetterMark. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties, ” American Journal of Sociology78 (6): 1360-80.
21.
HeitmeyerWilhelmAnhutReimund. 2008. “Disintegration, Recognition, and Violence: A Theoretical Perspective.” New Directions for Youth Development, 119: 25-37.
22.
HurstWilliam. 2008. Mass Frames and Worker Protests. In Harvard Contemporary China Series: Popular Protest in China, edited by O’BrienKevin J., 71-87. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
23.
InglehartRonald. 1997. Modernization and Postmodernization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
24.
International Herald Tribute. 2008. “Chinese Riot Over Handling of Girl’s Killing,” Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
25.
JasperJames M.1998. “The Emotions of Protest: Affective and Reactive Emotions in and around Social Movements.” Sociological Forum13 (3): 397-424.
KlandermansBertOegemaDirk. 1987. “Potentials, Networks, Motivations, And Barriers: Steps Toward Participation in Social Movements.” American Sociological Review52 (6): 519-531.
28.
KlandermansBertvan der ToornJojannekeVan StekelenburgJacquelien. 2008. “Embeddedness and Identity: How Immigrants Turn Grievances into Action.” American Sociological Review73 (6): 992-1012.
29.
KlandermansBertVan StekelenburgJacquelien. 2014. “Why People Don’t Participate in Collective Action.” Journal of Civil Society10 (4): 341-52.
30.
KornhauserWilliam. 1959. The Politics of Mass Society. New York: Free Press.
31.
LeeAie-RieYongGlasure U.. 2007. “Social Capital and Political Participation in South Korea.” Asian Affairs34 (2): 101-18.
32.
LiLianjiang. 2010. “Rights consciousness and rules consciousness in contemporary China.” The China Journal64 (64): 47-68.
33.
LinNan. 1999. “Social Networks and Status Attainment.” Annual Review of Sociology25: 467-87.
34.
LongLe Anh Nguyen. 2015. “Does Social Capital Affect Immigrant Political Participation? Lessons from a Small-N Study of Migrant Political Participation in Rome.” Journal of International Migration and Integration17 (3): 819-837.
35.
ManionMelanie. 2014. Retirement of Revolutionaries in China: Public Policies, Social Norms, Private Interests. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
36.
MattinglyDaniel C.2019. The Art of Political Control in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
McAdamDoug. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
38.
McCarthyJohn D.ZaldMayer N.. 1977. “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory.” American Journal of Sociology82 (6): 1212-41.
39.
MichelsonEthan. 2007. “Climbing the Dispute Pagoda: Grievances and Appeals to the Official Justice System in Rural China.” American Sociological Review72 (3): 459-485.
40.
MichelsonEthanReadBenjamin. 2011. “Public Attitudes toward Official Justice in Beijing and Rural China.” In Chinese Justice: Civil Dispute Resolution in Contemporary China, edited by WooMargaret Y. K.GallagherMary E., 169-203. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
41.
O’BrienKevin J.DengYanhua2015. “Repression Backfires: Tactical Radicalization and Protest Spectacle Rural China.” Journal of Contemporary China24 (93): 457-470.
42.
O’BrienKevin J.LiLianjiang. 2006. Rightful resistance in Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
43.
OlsonMancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
44.
PanJenniferXuYiqing. 2015. “China’s Ideological Spectrum.” MIT Political Science Department Research Paper.
45.
PassyFlorenceGiugniMarco. 2001. “Social Networks and Individual Perceptions: Explaining Differential Participation in Social Movements.” Sociological Forum16 (1): 123-53.
46.
PennarKaren. 1997. “The Tie That Leads to Prosperity: The Economic Value of Social Bonds is Only Beginning to be Measured.” Business Weekly, 153-155.
47.
PerryElizabeth J. 2008. “Chinese Conceptions of ‘Rights’: From Mencius to Mao - and Now.” Perspectives on Politics6 (1): 37-50.
48.
PutnamRobert D.1995. “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.” Journal of Democracy6: 65-78.
49.
PutnamRobert D.2016. Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. New York: Simon and Schuste.
50.
RansfordH. Edward. 1968. “Isolation, Powerlessness, and Violence: A Study of Attitudes and Participation in the Watts Riot.” American Journal of Sociology73 (5): 581-91.
51.
RoyBethBurdickJohnKriesbergLouis. 2010. “A Conversation Between Conflict Resolution and Social Movement Scholars.” Conflict Resolution Quarterly27 (4): 347-368.
52.
SchussmanAlanSouleSarah A.. 2005. “Process and protest: Accounting for individual protest participation.” Social forces84 (2):1083-1108.
53.
SeibertScott E.KraimerMaria L.LidenRobert C.. 2001. “A Social Capital Theory of Career Success.” Academy of Management Journal44 (2): 219-237.
54.
ShiFayongCaiYongshun. 2006. “Disaggregating the State: Networks and Collective Resistance in Shanghai.” The China Quarterly186: 314-332.
55.
SuYangFengShizheng. 2013. “Adapt or Voice: Class, Guanxi, and Protest Propensity in China.” The Journal of Asian Studies72 (1):45-67.
56.
TreimanDonald J.MasonWilliam M.YaoLuPanYiQiYaqiangSongShige. 2006. “Observations on the Design and Implementation of Sample Surveys in China,” In Social Transformation in Chinese Societies (Volume 1), edited by BianYan-jieChanKwok-bunCheungTak-sing, 81-112. Leiden: Brill.
57.
TsaiLily L.2007. Accountability without Democracy: Solidary Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
58.
UseemBert. 1998. “Breakdown Theories of Collective Action.” Annual Review of Sociology24 (1): 215-238.
59.
Van StekelenburgJacquelienKlandermansBert. 2010. “The Social Psychology of Protest,” sociopedia.isa, accessed:www.sagepub.net/isa/resources/pdf/Protest.pdf (accessed: November 11, 2018).
60.
WilliamsRichard.2006. “Generalized Ordered Logit/Partial Proportional Odds Models for Ordinal Dependent Variables.” The Stata Journal6 (1): 58-82.
61.
WoolcockMichael. 1998. “Social Capital and Economic Development: Towards a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework.” Theory and Society27: 151-208.
62.
WuXiao. 2003. “Exploring Marginalized Communities – An Analysis of China’s Floating Population Communities.” (bianyuan shequ tansuo – woguo renkou liudong jujuqu de xianzhuang tezheng touxi). Urban Design (Chengshi Guihua)2: 31-37.
63.
YuJianrong. 2008. “China’s Anger Discharge Incidents and Governance Dilemma.” Contemporary World and Socialism (Dangdai Shijie Yu Shehui Zhuyi)6 (1): 4-9.
64.
ZhongYangHwangWonjae. 2016. “Pollution, Institutions and Street Protests in Urban China.” Journal of Contemporary China25 (98): 216-32.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
