Individualization, Relationships and Collective Action Among Migrants in China: Evidence from Rent Strikes

Abstract Based on a field study of the COVID-19 rent reduction actions of a group of self-employed migrants in Zhengzhou, China, this study examines how individualization shaped the relational networks of the migrants, which in turn dynamically influenced the trajectory and outcome of their collective action. The group’s collective action was shaped not by a single relationship but by an instrumental relational network woven from fragmented intra-group ties, fragile local connections, unstable market relations and arms-length government–migrant interactions. The “relational duality” framework proposed here reveals this network’s dual role in contention: shared experiences of external exclusion catalysed internal solidarity and short-term mobilization; however, the network’s inherent instrumentality and vulnerability rendered it highly susceptible to adversaries’ strategic activation of latent competitive boundaries through tactics like co-optation and relational repression, thus triggering a rapid dissolution of solidarity that resulted in the protest fragmenting. These findings enrich an understanding of the micro-dynamics of contentious politics in China and offer a fresh lens for analysing collective action among similar groups that undergo individualization.