The Resource Mobilisation Cycle: How Chinese Civil Society Organisations Leverage Cultural, Economic, Symbolic and Social Capital

How should survival strategies of resource-dependent Chinese civil society organisations (CSOs) be re-conceptualised in order to narrow the gap between civil society research and emerging CSO practices? Specifically, to what extent have CSOs managed to leverage scarce resources to secure organisational survival? Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts, the authors engage in theoretical innovation by explaining how CSOs have engaged in a resource mobilisation cycle, whereby practitioners draw on their cultural, economic, symbolic and social capital. Their findings highlight the view that Chinese CSOs have varying levels of access to support their work from four resource pools, namely global civil society, the Party–state, the private sector, and local constituents and local communities.