ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some quantitative analyses of the social and political correlates of factional affiliation. The fact that class and its relationship to cadre authority was the main issue in the Cultural Revolution in Mr. Ji's unit does not necessarily mean that class background was the most important factor motivating people's factional choices. The social bases of their friendship seem to reside in age, occupation, school and provincial ties, and perhaps, negatively, lack of positive or negative involvement in politics before the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution has been widely interpreted as a revolt against the previous structure of political power. The specific issues and alignments of the Cultural Revolution were clearly related to constellations of concrete interests among unit members. The Cultural Revolution in this unit was a complex affair in which the multifaceted pattern of political participation reflected the richness of the human and historical settings in which it took place.
