Chinese Journal of Sociology

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The Weak identity as a Weapon: Subaltern Politics of the Peasant Resistance for Rights

Dong Haijun   

  • Received:1900-01-01 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2008-07-20 Published:2008-07-20

Abstract: The weak are not always at the weak position and sometimes they even have the upper hand. Referring to the research on peasant resistance for rights, especially on the basis of Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance by weapons of the weak, we take the autonomy of peasant subaltern politics as the basic point to analyze the peasant resistance, with the focus on their daily events of resistance for rights, and find another kind of political system for subaltern resistance. It is “the weak identity as a weapon”. The potential power of the weak and the resistant action by using their identity of the weak as a weapon are discussed in this research. That is the answer to the question why and how the weak are taken as a weapon and thus revises our traditional perception of the sweak. The research on the resistance system by “the weak identity as a weapon” has farreaching significance to social management and development.

Key words: resistance for rights, “the weak identity as a weapon”, weapons of the weak