Handbook on Class and Social Stratification in China

Edited by Yingjie Guo, Department of Chinese Studies, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney, Australia

‘Much more than a simple compendium on the shape of social differentiation in China today, this ambitious volume takes on the earth-shattering shifts that officially swept away the concept of class (even as class contradictions grow ever sharper) and that replaced that term with “stratum,” in line with regime “dreams” of “harmony.” The authors offer us a kaleidoscope of history, politics, and much else interpreted through the lens of class, providing a sophisticated, elegant set of chapters. The work amounts to a virtual treatise on Chinese society today - most of whose contributions would qualify as high-caliber journal articles. The tome provides a vigorous justification for a resurgence of class analysis.’

• Contents: Introduction: Class and Stratification in the People’s Republic of ChinaYingjie GuoPART I HISTORY1. Reconfiguring China’s Class Order after the 1949 Revolution Joel Andreas2. The Cultural Revolution: Class, Culture and Revolution Mobo Gao3. Class and Inequality in the Post-Mao Era Li ChunlingPART II DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND CLASS FORMATION4. State Power as a Determinant of Life Chances Yingjie Gao5. Cultural Politics of Class: Workers and Peasants as Historical Subjects Wanning Sun6. Women’s Social Mobility in China: Marriage and ClassSong Yu7. Ethnic Minority Status, Class, and the Urban Labour Market Reza HasmathPART III WELFARE INDEXES8. Education, Social Stratification and Class in ChinaLiang Du9. The High School Entrance Exam And/As Class Sorter: Working Class Youth and the HSEE in Contemporary China T. E. Woronov10. Housing China’s InequalityLuigi Tomba11. Class, Stratification and Health Inequities in Contemporary China Beatriz Carrillo GarciaPART IV THE RULING CLASS12. China’s Emerging Ruling Class: Power, Wealth, and Status under Market Socialism David S. G. Goodman13. China’s Top Leading Cadres: More Red, Expert, or Gold? Peng LuPART V MIDDLE CLASSES14. Transformation of China’s Socialist Brick: Reproduction and Circulation of Ordinary Cadres Peng Lu15. The Growth of Chinese Professionals: A New Middle Class in the Making Zhuoni Zhang and Xiaogang Wu16. China’s Private Entrepreneurs and the Party-state: Mutual Dependence and Political InstitutionalizationMinglu ChenPART VI WORKING CLASSES17. Working Class Re-formation and De-formation in the PRC Marc Blecher18. China’s Rural Migrant Workers and Labour Politics Jenny Chan and Mark Selden19. A Predictable End? China’s Peasantry as a Class, Past, Present and Imagined Future Sally SargesonIndex