Survival as citizenship, or citizenship as survival? Imagined and transient political groups in urban China

Tom Cliff; Kan Wang

doi:10.1007/978-981-10-6337-4_3

Survival as citizenship, or citizenship as survival? Imagined and transient political groups in urban China

Tom Cliff^*, Kan Wang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Is it the quest for survival, rather than the quest for citizenship per se, that drives enactments of citizenship? This chapter examines the complex relationship between survival and citizenship through a longitudinal case study of a rural migrant workers NGO in peri-urban Beijing, finding that survival and citizenship are virtually inseparable: one often follows, or is seen to follow, from the other. Contesting citizenship brings political risk. In this case, the survival strategies taken by the NGO to hedge against such risk cause people with diverse natural loyalties to enact citizenship-by-extension-of-citizenship-to-others. The result is an enlarged political group with a particularly high level of political potency.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Living Politics of Self-Help Movements in East Asia
Publisher	Springer Singapore
Pages	29-55
Number of pages	27
ISBN (Electronic)	9789811063374
ISBN (Print)	9789811063367
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6337-4_3
Publication status	Published - 4 Dec 2017

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abstract = "Is it the quest for survival, rather than the quest for citizenship per se, that drives enactments of citizenship? This chapter examines the complex relationship between survival and citizenship through a longitudinal case study of a rural migrant workers NGO in peri-urban Beijing, finding that survival and citizenship are virtually inseparable: one often follows, or is seen to follow, from the other. Contesting citizenship brings political risk. In this case, the survival strategies taken by the NGO to hedge against such risk cause people with diverse natural loyalties to enact citizenship-by-extension-of-citizenship-to-others. The result is an enlarged political group with a particularly high level of political potency.",

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AB - Is it the quest for survival, rather than the quest for citizenship per se, that drives enactments of citizenship? This chapter examines the complex relationship between survival and citizenship through a longitudinal case study of a rural migrant workers NGO in peri-urban Beijing, finding that survival and citizenship are virtually inseparable: one often follows, or is seen to follow, from the other. Contesting citizenship brings political risk. In this case, the survival strategies taken by the NGO to hedge against such risk cause people with diverse natural loyalties to enact citizenship-by-extension-of-citizenship-to-others. The result is an enlarged political group with a particularly high level of political potency.

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Survival as citizenship, or citizenship as survival? Imagined and transient political groups in urban China

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