Chinese Urban Life under Reform
The Changing Social Contract

This book examines how urban China is experiencing the shift from a planned to a market economy.

Wenfang Tang (Author), William L. Parish (Author)

9780521778657, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 January 2000

412 pages, 12 b/w illus. 24 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.555 kg

'… this is an enjoyable stimulating and rewarding book, whether used as a textbook or as a book that specialists in Chinese Studies will refer to. I would have no hesitation in recommending the book to undergraduates and fellow researchers alike.' Journal of International Development

This book provides a rare glimpse into how the Chinese urban population is experiencing the rapid shift from a planned to a market economy. The authors, using a dozen recent national social surveys, give voice to workers, civil servants, intellectuals, and women, who report their grievances and joys at home, at work, and in the public sphere. With fresh data on newly emerging patterns of economic inequality, labor-management relations, popular grievances, political participation, and gender inequality, the book comprehensively analyzes how the shifting social contract influences ordinary people's lives. With comparative data from the more market-based Taiwan, the book illuminates the directions in which China might be headed.

Acknowledgements
Part I. Introduction: 1. Socialist and market social contracts
2. The urban social world
Part II. Group Interests: 3. Life chances: education and jobs
4. Economic rewards
5. Popular reactions to the changing social contract
6. Labor-management relations
7. Civil servants and bureaucratic behavior
8. Political participation and interest articulation
Part III. Gender: 9. Gender and work William L. Parish and Sarah Busse
10. Gender and family William L. Parish and James Farrer
Part IV. Comparisons and Conclusions: 11. Taiwan and China compared
12. Conclusion
Appendices
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Sociology & anthropology [JH]