The Chinese economy's return to commodification and privatization has greatly diversified China's institutional landscape. With the migration of more than 140 million villagers to cities and rapid urbanization of rural settlements, it is no longer possible to presume that the nation can be divided into strictly urban or rural classifications. Creating Wealth and Poverty in Postsocialist China draws on a wide variety of recent national surveys and detailed case studies to capture the diversity of postsocialist China and identify the contradictory dynamics forging contemporary social stratification. Focusing on economic inequality, social stratification, power relations, and everyday life chances, the volume provides an overview of postsocialist class order and contributes to current debates over the forces driving global inequalities. This book will be a must read for those interested in social inequality, stratification, class formation, postsocialist transformations, and China and Asian studies.
"A group of prominent scholars use fresh survey data and in-depth ethnographic analysis and examine a broad range of issues relating to economic and social changes in contemporary China. This timely volume contains some unexpected and fascinating findings which provide new perspectives for understanding a rapidly evolving society."
University of Pittsburgh
"This is the best and most comprehensive volume to have been published on social inequality in contemporary China in quite some time. None of the chapters disappoint, and all contributions are of consistently high quality. Every sociologist and political scientist, as well as many economist, specializing in China will have to react to this book, and every library should acquire it."
Journal of Asian Studies
"This book's contribution…is the detailed description of the mechanisms that affect Chinese society as it undergoes a rapid transformationin the post-colonial period. Despite some flaws, this is the most comprehensive and insightful book in recent years to address the issue of social inequality in globalizing China."
