Community Participation in Urban China: Identifying Mobilization Factors

The rise of community participation is premised on perceived benefits that participation brings to community programs in terms of added efficiency, sustainability, and the collective community power. It is critical for social service professionals to gain the knowledge and skills to mobilize community members to join together and move from personal social concerns to collective concerns via organized community actions. However, the type of people who are likely to become involved in community mobilization efforts, and the motives for such participation, vary by country and culture. The purpose of this article is to present an urban community in Beijing and to identify factors that have affected community mobilization in urban China. Why might community mobilization factors in urban China be of interest to Western community practitioners and scholars? What is the appropriate theoretical framework within which to consider them? This article discusses these questions and raises questions for future research.