Weapons of the Rich: Strategic Behavior and Collective Action of Private Entrepreneurs in China

Abstract

This article, the product of several years of extensive fieldwork, seeks to reinvigorate the debate on China’s private entrepreneurs by arguing that they have become a “strategic group” within the Chinese polity. While they do not openly challenge the current regime, they continuously alter the power balance within the current regime coalition, which connects them to the party-state at all administrative levels. As the future of Chinese socialism depends on the sound development of the private-sector economy and, therefore, on the promotion of private entrepreneurship, it can be expected that entrepreneurial influence within the regime coalition will rise, with inevitable consequences for regime legitimacy and stability.

Profile of the super rich in China: A social space analysis

“…These include not only material resources (such as welfare housing, access to privileged public schools, and urban civic rights tied with hukou), but also interpersonal resources, such as "acquaintance" in the state system. This is demonstrated in ours and many other studies (Goodman, 2008;Heberer & Schubert, 2019;Tsai, 2007). Those who quit the state system and become active in the private sector are often referred to as "jumping into the sea".…”

Feeling and thought in collective action on social issues: Toward a systems perspective

“…Consider what individuals are able to do by superspreading infection, social conflict, political polarization, and environmental burdens—especially those at the top of societies’ hierarchies (e.g., Piff et al., 2018). Findings in a variety of domains are increasingly showing that action on social issues and collective injustices is just as much about individuals’ and small groups’ behaviors as it is about mass mobilizations, public opinion, or social structures (e.g., Ackermann & Gundelach, 2020; Center for Countering Digital Hate, 2021; Dornschneider, 2021; Heberer & Schubert, 2019; Uysal & Akfirat, 2021; van Zomeren, 2014). Likewise, covert and non‐contentious forms of collective action are important, and their absence from our conceptualization is not justified (see also, Bou Zeineddine, 2015; Nations et al., 1997; Vollhardt et al., 2020; von Boemcken et al., 2018).…”

Participation without Contestation: NGOs’ Autonomy and Advocacy in China

“…20 Cooper 2006Zhan andTang 2013. 21 Kennedy 2005;Heberer andSchubert 2019. 22 Deng andKennedy 2010;Guo 2012.…”