Triggering, Organizing, and Meaning: A Study of Rural Mass Incident Occurrence

Abstract

In the process of rural group events, the trigger event ignites the fuse of rural group events; the weak organization, the network of acquaintance relations, and the spatial environment of gathering in rural areas cross the dilemma of China's collective action constraints, which contributes to the aggregation of members of farmers' groups; and when the farmers attribute the reasons for the damage of their interests to the deprivation of the grassroots government, the collective identities within the farmers' groups are activated, and in the members' communication and interaction, implicit infection in the development and escalation of rural group events.

Introduction: "Modernity brings stability, while the process of modernization brings turmoil" （Huntington,1989.p.38).The comprehensive transformation of Chinese society after the reform and opening up has led to a rupture in the social structure, the accentuation of social contradictions, and an increase in the number of rural mass incidents. How do rural mass incidents occur? What factors have contributed to their occurrence? Is there a certain regularity? Understanding the occurrence of rural mass incidents is of great significance to improving grassroots governance, revitalizing the countryside and creating a beautiful landscape.

Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to study the occurrence of rural mass incidents.What factors contribute to the occurrence of rural mass incidents?

Conclusions: In short, in the process of rural group events, the triggering event ignites the fuse of rural group events; the weak organization, acquaintance relationship network, and spatial environment of gathering in the countryside cross the dilemma of collective action constraints in China, which contributes to the aggregation of members of farmers' groups; and the construction of meanings activates the collective identities of farmers' groups, and in the exchanges and interactions of members and the implied infections of members, the rural group events evolve and escalate. The construction of meanings activates the collective identity of farmers' groups, and in the exchanges and interactions of members and the implied infections of members, the rural group events evolve and escalate.