COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR REVISITED - IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS IN THE CHINESE CULTURAL-REVOLUTION

Research on collective action has largely ignored the kinds of violent ideological movements that were a major preoccupation of earlier rese arch on collective behavior The models of mobilization that now domina te the field, designed to address the problem of free riders and indiv idual choice in a relatively free political environment, offer little insight into the origins and development of such movements. The proble m of individual choice and the aggregation of individual decisions int o collective action remains a vital issue, however and such concepts a s dependence, monitoring capacity, and sanctions are essential to expl anation. With an extended illustration of factional struggle and the m ass victimization of suspected enemies of socialism during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, this article illustrates the ways in which these concepts can be refashioned to address a different class of collectiv e action: movements in which no clear collective good is sought and in which the choices of individuals are highly circumscribed by politica l organizations and settings.