COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, SYMBOLIC MOBILIZATION, AND STUDENT PROTEST IN NANJING, CHINA, 1988-1989

Recent social movement theory explores the interaction of collective i dentity and collective action. This issue is pursued here in an examin ation of student protest in Nanjing, China. Because social movement ac tivity in China is discontinuous, conjunctural, and public, mobilizati on relies heavily on symbolic communication and action. Constructing a collective identity that can sustain a movement thus hinges on the cr eation and manipulation of evocative symbols. The problems and opportu nities of symbolically enacting collective identity are discussed in r egard to the 1988 anti-African protests and the 1989 democracy movemen t in Nanjing.