The State and Life Chances in Urban China: Redistribution and Stratification, 1949-1994

by Xueguang Zhou

Overview

Using life history information of a national sample of urban Chinese residents, this book examines how shifting state policies and political processes led to drastic fluctuations of opportunities in education attainment, employment, promotions, and economic benefits over a 45-year history. The author addresses issues about the evolution of state socialism in China and the sources and extent of fundamental changes over the last two decades to demonstrate how the socialist state's policies affected everyday life in urban China.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521835077
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/29/2004
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.26(d)

About the Author

Xueguang Zhou is Professor of Sociology at Duke University. He co-authored The Dynamics of Rules (with James G. March and Martin Schultz, 2000) and edited State and Society in Contemporary China (in Chinese, 1992). His work has appeared in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Administrative Science Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Social Search Research, among other journals.

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Preface; Credit line; 1. Redistribution and stratification dynamics under State Socialism; 2. Overview: historical context and research design; Part I. Redistribution and Stratification Dynamics: Empirical Evidence: 3. Education stratification; 4. Entry into the labor force: patterns of first-job attainment; 5. Children of the Cultural Revolution: the send-down episode; 6. Climbing the political ladder: bureaucratic career patterns; Part II. Assessing Institutional Changes in the Post-Mao Era: 7. Economic transformation and changes in income inequality; 8. Redistribution and latent economic benefits; 9. Institutional changes and patterns of job shifts; 10. Economic transformation and life chances: a life-course perspective; Part III. Summary and Conclusion: 11. Social stratification under State Socialism: summary and assessment; 12. Stratification dynamics and institutional transformation; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This volume offers the most comprehensive study of social stratification in Socialist China to date." - China Review International, Xiaojun Wang, University of Hawai'i

From the Publisher