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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
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Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Perry, Elizabeth J.2000. "Reinventing the Wheel? The Suppression Campaign against Falun Gong." Harvard China Review.
- Writing Group on the Rectification of the Yenan Central Party School, ed. 1988. Yanan zhongyang dangxiao de zhengfeng jiaoxun [Lessons from the rectification movement at the Yanan Central Party School]. Beijing: Central Party School Press.
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Deng, Y., & O’Brien, K. J. (2013) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741013000714 · Cited by 334
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“For example, Perry (2002) shows how the Communist Party under Mao used “ emotion work ” in order to mobilize people for political campaigns like land reform efforts.”
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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