Getting Schooled: Legal Mobilization as an Educative Process

Abstract

This article explores the role of formal education and specific legal knowledge in the process of legal mobilization. Using survey data and in‐depth case narratives of workplace disputes in China, we highlight three major findings. First, and uncontroversially, higher levels of formal education are associated with greater propensity to use legal institutions and to find them more effective. Second, informally acquired labor law knowledge can substitute for formal education in bringing people to the legal system and improving their legal experiences. The Chinese state's propagation of legal knowledge has had positive effects on citizens' legal mobilization. Finally, while education and legal knowledge are factors that push people toward the legal system, actual dispute experience leads people away from it, especially among disputants without effective legal representation. The article concludes that the Chinese state's encouragement of individualized legal mobilization produces contradictory outcomes—encouraging citizens to use formal legal institutions, imbuing them with new knowledge and rights awareness, but also breeding disdain for the law in practice.

Doing Ethnography on Social Media: A Methodological Reflection on the Study of Online Groups in China

“…Although our dialogue with the Big Data approach runs throughout the article, we have no intention to advocate for any competitive or adversarial relationship between quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of contemporary China. On the contrary, integrating both approaches in mixed-methods research can be quite beneficial for many research topics, ranging from examining news reporting (Lei, 2016) to studying workplace disputes (Gallagher & Yang, 2017). Neither of the two authors adopted mixed methods mainly because the political sensitivity of our research projects makes quantitative data collection nearly impossible in the Chinese context.…”

Legal Mobilization in Large-Scale Land Deals

“…Last but not least previous experiences with legal norms play a considerable role as well (Gallagher/Yang 2017). In the case of communities affected by large-scale land-based investments, it can be decisive if they hold this 3.3.2 expert knowledge, which can be gathered through previous experience (Gingembre 2015: 572).…”

Ethnic Conflict and the New Legalism in China

“…13 Mary Gallagher and Yujeong Yang identify the problem of "legal mobilization in the absence of institutional complementarity" in China that exacerbates public perceptions of an unresponsive and biased state. 14 When dealing with below red line conflicts that have little or nothing to do with state ideology or sovereignty, the CCP claims to be more flexible, responsive and open to liberal interpretations of the rule of law, and some Chinese scholars argue that traditional autocratic legalism is starting to change. 15 There is no coherent group of new legalists per se, although we have identified a number of Chinese political elites who, based on their positive signaling (speeches and public statements), are committed to strengthening the rule of law in China without undermining the CCP's grip on power.…”