Polarized Cities

Dorothy J. Solinger is professor emerita of political science at the University of California, Irvine.

In this volume, Polarized Cities: Portraits of Rich and Poor in Urban China, the editor, Dorothy Solinger, employs a caste-like formation framework to examine the growing urban inequality in China. This book widens our understanding of rising urban inequality in contemporary China and would be an excellent teaching resource for China scholars who study social stratification, social mobility, and social inequality.

• Introduction: State Policies, Castes, and Agency Dorothy J. SolingerPart I: Polarization: Scope, Causes, Manifestations1 China’s Uphill Battle Against Inequality Wang Feng2 Convergence and Divergence Among the Rich and the PoorLi ZhangPart II: Portraits of the Urban Poor3 Banish the Impoverished Past: The Predicament of the Abandoned Urban Poor Dorothy J. Solinger4 The Passionate Poor: Foxconn Workers Invited as Volunteers Mun Young Cho5 On the Rough Edge of Prosperity: Informal Migrant Recyclers in Beijing Joshua GoldsteinPart III: The Upper Reaches of the Urban Rich6 China’s Party Kings: Shanghai Club Cultures and Status Consumption, 1920s–2010sAndrew David Field and James Farrer7 Corruption, Anti-Corruption, and the Dynamics of Class: Formation in Post-Mao China John OsburgUrban Polarities: Inequality, Social Mobility, and the Role of the State David S. G. GoodmanAbout the Contributors