Class Struggle and Deviant Labeling in Mao’s China Becoming Enemies of the People

This study investigates the entire process of deviant labeling under the leadership of Chairman Mao between 1950 and 1978. Through the use of life history materials that include autobiographies and memoirs published in both English and Chinese, the causes of the labeling, the lives of the deviants, and the consequences of deviant labels on individuals, family members, and significant others are thoroughly analyzed. It documents the impacts of labeling on the self-concept of deviants and the creation of a new socially and politically defined deviant class, the ‘enemies of the people’ in Mao’s China.