'Bill Parish, one of the most experienced and wide-ranging sociologists studying China, here teams up with a talented political scientist, Wenfang Tang, to present a broad overview of varying patterns in Chinese urban life after reform. They find wide differences among people, depending upon education and opportunity for exposure to outside media. They find differences among work units as workers who were highly dependent upon their superiors are gradually exposed to an open market system. In Taiwan, which has long had a high proportion of small, independent companies, individual effort still makes more difference than on the mainland. A comprehensive, broad picture of changes in Chinese urban society.' Ezra Vogel, Asia Center, Harvard University

• Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Socialist and market social contracts; 2. The urban social world; Part II. Group Interests: 3. Life chances: education and jobs; 4. Economic rewards; 5. Popular reactions to the changing social contract; 6. Labor-management relations; 7. Civil servants and bureaucratic behavior; 8. Political participation and interest articulation; Part III. Gender: 9. Gender and work William L. Parish and Sarah Busse; 10. Gender and family William L. Parish and James Farrer; Part IV. Comparisons and Conclusions: 11. Taiwan and China compared; 12. Conclusion; Appendices; References; Index.

'Bill Parish, one of the most experienced and wide-ranging sociologists studying China, here teams up with a talented political scientist, Wenfang Tang, to present a broad overview of varying patterns in Chinese urban life after reform. They find wide differences among people, depending upon education and opportunity for exposure to outside media. They find differences among work units as workers who were highly dependent upon their superiors are gradually exposed to an open market system. In Taiwan, which has long had a high proportion of small, independent companies, individual effort still makes more difference than on the mainland. A comprehensive, broad picture of changes in Chinese urban society.' Ezra Vogel, Asia Center, Harvard University

• Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. Socialist and market social contracts; 2. The urban social world; Part II. Group Interests: 3. Life chances: education and jobs; 4. Economic rewards; 5. Popular reactions to the changing social contract; 6. Labor-management relations; 7. Civil servants and bureaucratic behavior; 8. Political participation and interest articulation; Part III. Gender: 9. Gender and work William L. Parish and Sarah Busse; 10. Gender and family William L. Parish and James Farrer; Part IV. Comparisons and Conclusions: 11. Taiwan and China compared; 12. Conclusion; Appendices; References; Index.