Degree of Commitment (diqi) and Differential Peasant Resistance in Three Village Communities

Abstract

Centering on an analysis of the role of diqi, or the degree of commitment underlying one’s self-confidence and actions, this study investigates villagers’ differential responses to the same project of demolition of local residences in three neighboring communities in order to understand the psychological mechanism through which peasant resistance came to be differentiated. It is found that what sustained peasant actions was their shared moral commitment to a way of life rather than self-interest or rational reasoning. Different also from James Scott’s “subsistence ethic” or Ying Xing’s ethical power “qi,” however, what the villagers stressed was an “everyday ethic” that sought to preserve their current way of life. Their resistance took different forms because of the different levels of commitment (diqi) that influenced their choice of actions despite the same kind of impact on their ethic of everyday life. To protect the rights and interests of rural residents and alleviate their resistance, it is necessary to give weight to the ethic of the everyday way of life of villagers instead of the logic of capital and to pay attention to the fundamental concerns of the silent majority in rural China.