ENGLISH

The Making of the Chinese Middle Class: Small Comfort and Great Expectations

By Jean-Louis Rocca (auth.)

Book information

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Year
2017
ISBN
978-1-137-39338-8, 978-1-137-39339-5
DOI
10.1057/978-1-137-39339-5
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (2605701 bytes)
Series
The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy
Edition
1
Pages
XIII, 281\288
Time added
2017-04-19 23:43:43
general;Political SciencePolitical Economy;Landscape/Regional and Urban PlaSocial Inequality;Sociology

Description

This book analyses the making of the Chinese middle class that started in the 1990s using a constructivist approach. With the development of the Chinese economy, a new group of middle wage earners appeared. Chinese social scientists and state institutions promoted the idea that China needs a middle class to achieve modernization. Middle class members are defined—and define themselves—as good consumers, educated people, politically engaged but reasonable citizens. As such, the making of the middle class is the result of three convergent phenomena: an attempt to define the middle class, a process of civilization, and the development of protest movements. The making of the Chinese middle class, Rocca argues, is a way to end the stalemate that modern Chinese society is facing, in particular the necessity to democratize without introducing an election system.

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