The State Theory Of Common People:the Action Logic Of Peasants’ Resistance Against Demolition

Nowadays in China, land acquisition, demolition and reconstruction are brought by urbanization of suburban countryside. Peasants’resistance against such actions has drawn great academic concern. In the current work, qualitative research methods were utilized and the object of study is J village in Z city, Henan. Data was collected from on-site field investigation and in-depth interviews with peasants and our research strategy was based on the ’process-event analysis’approach. Besides, a few events on peasants’ resistance against demolition of J village were presented and analyzed. In this thesis, peasants’resistance during demolition was studied in detail. The author tried to explain why demolition started with query on the plan of compensation and resettlement, following by peasants’confrontation with the community and cadres, while ending with peaceful resolution. Furthermore, the action logic of peasants’ resistance against demolition as well as the relationship between peasants and our state in the current social context was revealed.The author thinks that during the demolition in J village, the goal of peasants’ protests was to meet personal and family interests. Based on particular circumstances and available resources, they chose specific ways of protests to propose their demands to the local government. Words and action strategies peasants used on the local government’s demolition plan suggested their agreement with the overall legitimacy of our state (in other words, the’state’ theory of common people). During protests in the demolition, peasants took advantage of national policies and moralization identity and bargained with the local government. Resolution of protests was achieved by peasants’agreement with the overall legitimacy of the state, compromise with the local government, the demolition strategy and many other factors. However the resolution of protests didn’t necessarily mean the resolution of conflicts between peasants and the local government.This study focused on the peasants’ logic starting point of individual interests during protests and investigated the presence and reflect of their concept of’state’. Their appeal of individual interests and agreement with’state’were integrated to explain the general logic of interest appeal of peasants and the unprivileged population. Through the analysis of the protests in J village’s demolition, this thesis attempted to demonstrate that national legitimacy is widely present in the public action logic in the current relationship between the public and the state. Such relationship makes the protests less political and poses less threat to the government authority. However if the local government neglects the interest appeal of the unprivileged population and treats protests by a strong arm, it may cause the instability of the society. The author believes that the fundamental means to resolve the protests and maintain the social stability is to build an improved interest expression and regulatory mechanism between the state and the society.