In Li's view, the dangwai activism of the 1970s, the golden decade of social activism in the 1980s, and the Wild Lily movement of the early 1990s shared the commonality that the leaders from childhood had all lived under authoritarianism. The father was all-powerful in their homes. Teachers reigned supreme at school. And the larger society was tightly controlled by the heavy-handed machinery of state.
李丁讚分析，無論是 1970 年代的黨外運動、1980 年代社運黃金 10 年，或是 90 年代初期的野百合世代，上一世代運動者從小面對的環境都是威權式的──家庭中父權獨大、校園裡師長一言堂、社會上則是國家機器強力壓制。