ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS AND UN-ASSOCIATIONAL MOBILIZATION IN URBAN CHINA: OPINION LEADERS, FRAMING, AND ONLINE ACTIVISM

Abstract

In urban China, some environmental protests were neither led by civic associations nor spontaneous. I have conceptualized this mobilization pattern as un-associational mobilization, which involves three factors: opinion leaders as issue framers, activists as planners, and new media as channels for mobilization. Using discourse analysis, I have highlighted opinion leaders’ pivotal role in un-associational mobilization, who employed framing to mobilize public consensus and action. First, with discursive, cognitive, and political resources, opinion leaders problematized relevant issues, identified the solutions, and justified problem-solving collective action. Second, opinion leaders helped cultivate a broad collective identity among potential protesters, which enhanced collective action recruitment and solidarity. Third, functioning as a rallying point, opinion leaders exercised leadership to provide authoritative guidance. While emotional framing was sufficient in the case of ecological destruction, rational framing based on scientific knowledge was additionally required to arouse public awareness and mobilize a wider public in the pollution-related case.