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Massive rural-urban migration and growing collective resistance are two profound transformations in China. How are these two phenomena connected? Drawing on several data sources, I study the countervailing effects of migration on collective action in rural China. I find that migration acts as a vehicle of political diffusion but at the same time undermines the social foundation of collective action. As a result, the role of migration differs by the form and scale of collective action and is conditioned by local social institutions. The role of migration can be understood in the context of distinct institutional arrangements in China, which were originally engineered to disenfranchise rural-origin people but which instead have inadvertently politicized migrants and peasants alike.

Yao Lu is Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and faculty affiliate of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Columbia Population Research Center, and the Data Science Institute. Her research focuses on how migration intersects with social and political processes in China and globally. Her current work also examines the influence of demographic forces on democratization worldwide, the sources of gender, racial/ethnic, and nativity inequality in the high-skilled labor markets, and the impact of COVID-19 on racial attitudes.