The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 91 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Moving The Masses: Emotion Work In The Chinese Revolution
Open accessAbstract
Previous explanations of the Chinese Communist revolution have highlighted (variously) the role of ideology, organization, and/or social structure. While acknowledging the importance of all these factors, this article draws attention to a largely neglected feature of the revolutionary process: the mass mobilization of emotions. Building upon pre-existing traditions of popular protest and political culture, the Communists systematized "emotion work" as part of a conscious strategy of psychological engineering. Attention to the emotional dimensions of mass mobilization was a key ingredient in the Communists' revolutionary victory, distinguishing their approach from that of their Guomindang rivals. Moreover, patterns of emotion work developed during the wartime years lived on in the People's Republic of China, shaping a succession of state-sponsored mass campaigns under Mao. Even in post-Mao China, this legacy continues to exert a powerful influence over the attitudes and actions of state authorities and ordinary citizens alike.
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“During the high Maoist period in northeast Tibet (1958-1978), everyday routines and practices were radically and violently disrupted.”
From Feeling Apart: Relations of Belonging in Tibetan Buddhist Lay-Monastic Communities (2021) · cites this paper as Perry 2002
In the citing paper
“'Emotion work' was central to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) rise to power in China and continued to be used as a key strategy in mass mobilization during the Maoist period (Perry 2002).”
From Feeling Apart: Relations of Belonging in Tibetan Buddhist Lay-Monastic Communities (2021) · cites this paper as Perry 2002
Citations
Cites
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“The two revolutionary efforts differed from top to bottom in the extent to which they relied upon what Hochschild has termed “emotion work”—or “the act of trying to change in degree or quality an emotion or feeling”—in pursuing their goals (Hochschild 1979).”
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“So too did structural factors such as class cleavages, international pressures, and state weakness (Moore 1966; Skocpol 1979).”
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“This ‘emotion work’ in radical propaganda entails a cultural continuity rather than rupture because socialists will inevitably appropriate and reinterpret existing psycholo-gies, values, symbols, and rituals to mobilize their audience (Perry, 2002).”
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“The appropriation of the hyperemotional visual strategy can thus help bolster political mobilization and state ideology as well as glorify state policies and responses (Dai, 2018; Perry, 2002).”
Czellér, M. (2023) · Modern China · doi:10.1177/00977004231159853 · Cited by 1
“…as a key link between thought and action, is a significant theme in both Confucianism and Maoism (Cheek, 2016; Munro, 1977), and, as Elizabeth Perry (2002) and Yu Liu (2010) have argued, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) developed sophisticated techniques to channel emotions toward its…”
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Sukarieh, R. (2020) · New Sociology Journal of Critical Praxis · doi:10.25071/2563-3694.20 · Cited by 1
“In particular, studies have begun to highlight the role of emotions in the emergence, development, maintenance, and disintegration of social movements (Jasper & Poulsen, 1995; Jasper, 1998; Adams, 2002; Cadena-Roa, 2002; Perry, 2002; Klatch, 2004).”
BackgroundState-Mobilized Globalization as Policy Analysis
Ye, M. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108855389.002 · Cited by 1
How do political elements affect agricultural technological change?—A case study from China
Ge, Q. (2020) · doi:10.1177/2057150x19898132 · Cited by 1
“Early in the LargeScale Production Campaign, various methods such as political tags, discipline, and mobilization were adopted to stimulate people’s enthusiasm for labor (Perry, 2002).”
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“…work^ (Hochschild 1979) and a heightened attention to emotional mass mobilization played a pivotal role in the 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution (Perry 2002).3 These lines of study have significantly contributed to our understanding of the ways in which nation states monitor, control and even…”
BackgroundInfluentialPerforming Revolutionary Populism: The Revolutionary Path Movement in Turkey
Morgül, K. (2019) · Qualitative Sociology · doi:10.1007/s11133-019-9416-4
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“67 Li 1942, as cited in Perry 2002, 112.”
The Politics of Iteration: Knowledge Production in the Fengqiao Model, Past and Present
Zhou, L., & Liao, Y. (2025) · Modern China · doi:10.1177/00977004251365158
“By the end of the above meeting, for instance, Secretary Chen used a technique that Perry (2002) has called “emotion work” to heighten emotional commitments: I’ve heard some comrades complain that the Fengqiao Model is outdated and that the high-level planning is somewhat empty 空的 and disconnected…”
Kim, M. (2025) · Sociological perspectives · doi:10.1177/07311214251321445
Stapleton, T. (2024) · Review of Religion and Chinese Society · doi:10.1163/22143955-12340026
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Wang, D., & Gao, Z. (2023) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1177/10892680231166681
“…techniques applied in the thought reform campaigns included indoctrination through collective studies (Johnson, 2020; Lifton, 1961), accusation (Strauss, 2002), emotion work (Perry, 2002), and “ struggle sessions ” where participants performed “ criticism and self-criticism ” (Dittmer, 1973).”
BackgroundMethodRichardier, V. (2022) · Cahiers d Outre-Mer · doi:10.4000/com.14054
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Bram, B. (2022) · Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques · doi:10.1515/asia-2021-0010
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Wang, C.-Y., & Wang, Y. Y. (2022) · Modern China · doi:10.1177/00977004211072546
Hui, F.-Y.-X. (2022) · Chinese Literature and Thought Today · doi:10.1080/27683524.2022.2080479
Johnson, M. D. (2021) · Positions · doi:10.1215/10679847-9286727
“Thus, Mao’s use of mobilization to harness “emotional energy” is contrasted with Joseph Stalin’s reliance on violent purges and secret police (Perry 2002: 121).”
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Appendix 1: List of Interviewees
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Sun, P.-D., & Smith, A. M. (2019) · The Chinese Historical Review · doi:10.1080/1547402x.2019.1583923
Ma, Z. (2017) · doi:10.1353/ach.2017.0008
“purposes” (Perry 2002, 112).”
United States & comparative communist history: bibliography 2002
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Strauss, J. C. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108569163.011
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Strauss, J. C. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108569163.001
Granberg, E. M. (2008) · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-374095-3.00017-3
Metadata
- Authors
- Perry, E.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Perry, Elizabeth
- ORCID
- Perry, Elizabeth
- Venue
- Mobilization: An International Quarterly
- Publisher
- Mobilization Journal
- Published
- 2002-06-01
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 111-128
- ISSN
- 1086-671X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2106687313
- Cited by
- 233
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 6.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- nrs.harvard.edu
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Mobilization An International Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Chinese history and philosophy
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › History of Emotions Research
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
- Keywords
- emotional labor, Chinese Communist revolution, mass mobilization, popular protest, political culture, Kuomintang, war mobilization, post-Mao China
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