Being Middle Class in China

Identity, Attitudes and Behaviour
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-138-59573-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 168 Seiten, Format (B × H): 233 mm x 157 mm, Gewicht: 258 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies on the Chinese Economy

Many studies of the Chinese middle class focus on defining it and viewing its significance for economic development and its potential for sociopolitical modernisation. This book goes beyond such objective approaches and considers middle class people’s subjective understanding and diverse experiences of class. Based on extensive original research including social surveys and detailed interviews, the book explores who the middle class think they are, what they think about a wide range of socioeconomic and sociopolitical issues, and why they think as they do. It examines attitudes towards the welfare state, social inequality, nationalism, relations with foreign countries and opinions on many social controversies, thereby portraying middle class people as more than simply luxury consumers and potential agents of democracy. The book concludes that a clear class identity and political consciousness have yet to emerge, but that middle class attitudes are best characterised as searching for a balance between old and new, the traditional and the foreign, the principled and the pragmatic.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Miao, Ying

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction

2. Class Analysis in Comparative Perspective

3. Social Identity of the Middle Class

4. Between the State and the Market

5. Middle Class Attitude towards Socio-Political Affairs

6. Nationalism among the Middle Class

7. Viewing Those Below: The Marginalised Social Groups

8. Being Middle Class in the Middle Kingdom

Über Autor(innen)

Ying Miao is a Lecturer in China Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China.