Everyday Democracy - by Anthony J Spires

About the Book

Everyday Democracy is a groundbreaking study of bottom-up organizations in China, arguing that even in an authoritarian state, they nurture the skills and habits of democracy.

Book Synopsis

Bottom-up voluntary associations, it is commonly thought, are among the fundamental building blocks of democracy, preparing people for engaged citizenship. A great deal of interest in Chinese civil society is premised on the idea that such groups might foster the emergence of democracy. But in a society where virtually all major institutions--from schools to workplaces to government--bear the deep imprint of authoritarian rule, can voluntary associations still spur social and political change?

Everyday Democracy is a groundbreaking study of bottom-up organizations in China, arguing that even in an authoritarian state, they nurture the skills and habits of democracy. Anthony J. Spires offers an in-depth look at two youth-based, youth-led volunteer groups, showing how their values and practices point the way toward the emergence of new, more democratic forms of association. In mainstream Chinese organizational life, even in grassroots civil society groups, hierarchy and autocracy are pervasive. In these groups, however, ideals of equality, mutual respect, and dignity have motivated young people to invent new practices and norms that contrast greatly with typical top-down organizational culture. Drawing on more than a decade of field-based research with a diverse array of participants, Everyday Democracy pinpoints the seeds of a democratic culture inside an authoritarian regime.

Review Quotes

Everyday Democracy provides new ways to understand the ongoing interaction between civil society organizations and both elected and appointed rulers. This alone makes it a groundbreaking contribution and not just for students of Chinese politics.--Philippe C. Schmitter, professor emeritus, European University Institute

Based on twenty years of grassroots fieldwork, this book vividly describes how egalitarian, democratic civic cultures develop within voluntary associations even though they are under the mantle of Chinese hegemonic authoritarianism. Spires then connects these observations to a deeper and hopeful understanding of the challenges facing a fragile democratic tradition in the modern world.--Richard Madsen, author of China and the American Dream: A Moral Inquiry

Do civil society associations function as "free schools of democracy" in an undemocratic context? Spires engages this "Tocqueville question" through extensive fieldwork to provide a rigorous, subtle analysis of the culture of democracy and its dilemmas under a powerful authoritarian regime.--Bin Xu, author of The Culture of Democracy: A Sociological Approach to Civil Society

Drawing on decades of research on China's voluntary associations, Everyday Democracy provides a rich and original analysis of how democratic practices and values develop within an authoritarian regime. By posing familiar questions about democracy in an unfamiliar setting, Anthony J. Spires enriches debates over the importance of civil society in an account that is not only accessible and engaging but also theoretically unsettling and profoundly revelatory.--Elisabeth Clemens, author of Civic Gifts: Voluntarism and the Making of the American Nation-State

Through a close, longitudinal study of China's youth-led civil society that runs counter to existing analyses, Spires demonstrates that democratic culture is emerging on authoritarian soil, in grassroots groups. This is an important contribution not only to China studies but also to the study of political culture.--Diana Fu, author of Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China

About the Author

Anthony J. Spires is a sociologist and associate professor at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies. He is the author of Global Civil Society and China (2024).