Based on a 1998 survey of urban residents in four Chinese cities, this article presents a rationalist interpretation about the determinants of social trust. It first breaks trust into four categories, namely, trust in...Based on a 1998 survey of urban residents in four Chinese cities, this article presents a rationalist interpretation about the determinants of social trust. It first breaks trust into four categories, namely, trust in family members, trust in friends, trust in acquaintances, and trust in strangers, the last of which is called “social trust”. After reviewing the existing theories of social trust, the second section puts forward a hypothesis that the more resources one possesses, the more likely s/he trusts others. This is so because when one owns more resources, her/his “disaster threshold” would be higher and s/he would be less vulnerable to potential losses due to others’ untrustworthiness. The final section finds empirical evidence to support this rationalist interpretation.展开更多
Chinese economic reform is marked by an ideological and factual change from egalitarianism to“let some people get rich first”. How do Chinese people perceive the emergence or the change in social inequality? How can...Chinese economic reform is marked by an ideological and factual change from egalitarianism to“let some people get rich first”. How do Chinese people perceive the emergence or the change in social inequality? How can we explain their differences in perception of social stratification?I review two main theoretical approaches on the emergence of class-consciousness. The first one is structural approach ,the second one is dynamic approach that focuses on the impact of relative changes in socioeconomic status on class-consciousness. Logistic regression analysis shows that people who experienced relative deprivation of economic, power, or cultural resources, are more likely to perceive the society as stratified than those who are in relatively advantaged situations. Therefore, I conclude that the second approach is better for explaining people’s perception of social stratification in the transformation-era urban China. A byproduct finding from the statistical results suggests that the transition to market economy may increase economic return to cadres on individual level while relatively decrease economic return to power organization on institutional level.展开更多
This paper reviews Bourdieu’s theory of social class. It is organized into three main sections. In part one, as the background to understand his class theory, Bourdieu’s general framework of social theory, methodolo...This paper reviews Bourdieu’s theory of social class. It is organized into three main sections. In part one, as the background to understand his class theory, Bourdieu’s general framework of social theory, methodology, and key terms are briefly introduced. Part two reviews Bourdieu’s theoretical insights on class concept, capital and class classification, class habitus and taste, class trajectory and related topics. In part three, the author comments on Bourdieu’s important contributions to class theory and its limitations, highlights the heuristic implication of his class theory and the possibility to apply it to Chinese society to develop some empirical research questions.展开更多
Based on a 1996 sampling survey data(n=754)collected in Wuhan,Hubei,PRC,this paper explores people’s strata consciousness in urban China during the transformation era.Findings from statistical analysis suggest that m...Based on a 1996 sampling survey data(n=754)collected in Wuhan,Hubei,PRC,this paper explores people’s strata consciousness in urban China during the transformation era.Findings from statistical analysis suggest that most urban residents have clear perception of social stratification.Stratification in urban society is mainly perceived as an economic as well as a power hierarchy,while occupation is not considered as the core indicator of stratification as it is in some west societies.Contemporary urban China is socially neither a status society based on family background nor “class society”of Marx’s definition.It is also found that urban residents in Wuhan tend to identify with middle-lower strata on economic dimension,with middle-upper strata on prestige dimension,and with lower-bottom strata on power dimension,which suggest“an inclination of social-prestige climbing” on the one hand and “a sense of relative deprivation of power” on the other.While the identifications on the three dimensions are highly correlated,economic status indentification is most important to people’s identification of their overall socio-economic status.展开更多
文摘Based on a 1998 survey of urban residents in four Chinese cities, this article presents a rationalist interpretation about the determinants of social trust. It first breaks trust into four categories, namely, trust in family members, trust in friends, trust in acquaintances, and trust in strangers, the last of which is called “social trust”. After reviewing the existing theories of social trust, the second section puts forward a hypothesis that the more resources one possesses, the more likely s/he trusts others. This is so because when one owns more resources, her/his “disaster threshold” would be higher and s/he would be less vulnerable to potential losses due to others’ untrustworthiness. The final section finds empirical evidence to support this rationalist interpretation.
文摘Chinese economic reform is marked by an ideological and factual change from egalitarianism to“let some people get rich first”. How do Chinese people perceive the emergence or the change in social inequality? How can we explain their differences in perception of social stratification?I review two main theoretical approaches on the emergence of class-consciousness. The first one is structural approach ,the second one is dynamic approach that focuses on the impact of relative changes in socioeconomic status on class-consciousness. Logistic regression analysis shows that people who experienced relative deprivation of economic, power, or cultural resources, are more likely to perceive the society as stratified than those who are in relatively advantaged situations. Therefore, I conclude that the second approach is better for explaining people’s perception of social stratification in the transformation-era urban China. A byproduct finding from the statistical results suggests that the transition to market economy may increase economic return to cadres on individual level while relatively decrease economic return to power organization on institutional level.
文摘This paper reviews Bourdieu’s theory of social class. It is organized into three main sections. In part one, as the background to understand his class theory, Bourdieu’s general framework of social theory, methodology, and key terms are briefly introduced. Part two reviews Bourdieu’s theoretical insights on class concept, capital and class classification, class habitus and taste, class trajectory and related topics. In part three, the author comments on Bourdieu’s important contributions to class theory and its limitations, highlights the heuristic implication of his class theory and the possibility to apply it to Chinese society to develop some empirical research questions.
文摘Based on a 1996 sampling survey data(n=754)collected in Wuhan,Hubei,PRC,this paper explores people’s strata consciousness in urban China during the transformation era.Findings from statistical analysis suggest that most urban residents have clear perception of social stratification.Stratification in urban society is mainly perceived as an economic as well as a power hierarchy,while occupation is not considered as the core indicator of stratification as it is in some west societies.Contemporary urban China is socially neither a status society based on family background nor “class society”of Marx’s definition.It is also found that urban residents in Wuhan tend to identify with middle-lower strata on economic dimension,with middle-upper strata on prestige dimension,and with lower-bottom strata on power dimension,which suggest“an inclination of social-prestige climbing” on the one hand and “a sense of relative deprivation of power” on the other.While the identifications on the three dimensions are highly correlated,economic status indentification is most important to people’s identification of their overall socio-economic status.
