Economic Growth, Social Resistance and State-Society Relations in China

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

This panel brings together scholars, based at four different institutions across two continents, who study social resistance in China. Their studies are motivated by a similar puzzle: How does an authoritarian government that strives to pursue growth, also maintain tight grip on stability in a rapidly evolving society? Since the launch of market reforms in the 1980s, social discontent has stemmed in large part from the government’s economic pursuits, but blatant disregard for those negatively affected by the growth-oriented policies. Citizens from all stripes and across the vast country take their grievances to the streets on a daily basis. This has led to increasingly strained state-society relations.

The panelists address this puzzle at three different levels: micro-citizens, local governments, and macro-central government. Lynette Ong, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, studies villagers’ resistance against eviction and housing demolition. Drawing upon social movement literature in political sociology, she explains why certain villagers are able to successfully mobilize, while others are not. Huirong Chen, an assistant professor at Jiaotong University, studies how local governments achieve the two competing objectives of maximizing revenue and maintaining social stability at the same time. Xie Yue, a professor at Tongji University, takes a macro perspective: he seeks to answer why economic reform in an authoritarian state has resulted in various losers who turn into leading groups in social resistance. Professor Ray Yep from the City University of Hong Kong, an experienced scholar of contentious politics and state-society relations, will serve as the discussant.

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizer

• Lynette H Ong, University of Toronto

Chair

• Ray Yep, City University of Hong Kong

Individual Presentations

• Housing Demolition and Villagers’ Resistance: The Case of Zhengzhou City - Lynette H Ong, University of Toronto

• Between Economic Development and Social Stability: How Local Governments Achieve These Two Competing Objectives in Rural Land Tenure - Huirong Chen, Jiaotong University

• The State, Market, and Social Resistance in Post-Communist China - Yue Xie, Tongji University

Discussant

• Ray Yep, City University of Hong Kong