Homeowners' Activism in Beijing: Leaders with Mixed Motivations

It is commonly accepted that leaders play a crucial role in collective action. Existing literature has suggested a number of factors that contribute to the emergence of leaders including, among others, personality, sense of moral responsibility, community pressure, self-interest and institutional ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The China quarterly (London) 2013-09, Vol.215 (215), p.513-532
Main Authors: Cai, Yongshun, Sheng, Zhiming
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Activists
Collective action
Community
Fieldwork
Home ownership
Homeowners
Housing
Leadership
Litigation
Motivation
Personality
Political activism
Political leadership
Property management
Roles
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Summary:It is commonly accepted that leaders play a crucial role in collective action. Existing literature has suggested a number of factors that contribute to the emergence of leaders including, among others, personality, sense of moral responsibility, community pressure, self-interest and institutional exclusion. However, current research tends to suggest that activists are driven by a particular reason to become leaders and that their motivation is static. Based on intensive fieldwork in residential communities in Beijing, this article illustrates that leaders' motivations can be mixed or multiple and that leaders may re-prioritize or adjust their objectives over the course of collective action. The re-prioritizing tends to alter the leaders' behaviour and affect group solidarity and interactions with other group members.
ISSN:0305-7410
1468-2648
DOI:10.1017/S0305741013000726