Creating Wealth and Poverty in Postsocialist China - (Studies in Social Inequality) by Deborah S Davis & Feng Wang (Paperback)

About the Book

Presents an up-to-date look at the social processes and consequences of China's rapid economic growth.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"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." --Wenfang Tang, University of Pittsburgh

"Addressing key issues in debates related to market transition in China, this comprehensive, unique collection will no doubt have audiences in many disciplines. It is the only recent volume of its kind, and the caliber of the contributors guarantees visibility."--Lisa Keister, Duke University

"The book indeed maps a wide range of social inequality in China: age, gender, class, sector, and regional inequality .... The value of the book for researchers in the field of social stratification actually lies in its variety."--Xiaodan Zhang, China Quarterly

"The [book] is of high quality."--Dominique Tyl, Chinese Cross Currents.

"This book's contribution ... is the detailed depiction of the mechanisms that affect Chinese society as it undergoes a rapid transformation in the post colonial period. Despite some flaws, this is the most comprehensive and insightful books in recent years to address the issue of social inequality in globalizing China."--Pun Nagi, The China Journal

"This is the best and most comprehensive volume to have been published on social inequality in contemporary China in quite some time. Non of the chapters disappoint, and all contributions are of consistently high quality. Every sociologist and political scientist, as well as many economists, specializing in China will have to react to this book, and every library should acquire it."--William Hurst, Journal of Asian Studies

About the Author

Deborah S. Davis is Professor of Sociology at Yale University. Wang Feng is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine.