Yaojun Li & Yanjie Bian 
SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN CHINA 

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the patterns and trends of socio-economic development and social division in contemporary Chinese society. It discusses the determinants, manifestations and consequences of social inequality in the last 40 years with particular regard to social mobility, educational attainment, social capital, health, labor market position, including employment (opportunity), career advancement and earnings, housing, wealth and assets, urbanization, social integration of migrant peasant workers into urban life, social protest and civic engagement, subjective well-being and subjective social status.

Contents:

• Social Inequality in China — A Review of Theories and Evidence (Yaojun Li and Yanjie Bian)


• Intergenerational Social Mobility in China (Yaojun Li)


• China’s Rural–Urban Health Gap: Paradoxical Results of Health Insurance Reforms (Martin King Whyte and Amy Tsang)


• Social Inequality in Educational Attainment in China (Yaojun Li)


• Regime Politicization and Communist Party Membership in China, 1949–2014 (Yanjie Bian and Yixue Zhang)


• Misfortune of Children of the Cultural Revolution: Cohort Size, Historical Times, and Life Chances in China (Xiaoling Shu and Yiwan Ye)


• School Continuation After Compulsory Education in China (Lingxin Hao and Weidong Wang)


• Beyond the Middle School Gates: The Urban–Rural Divergence of School-Work Paths of China’s Youth (Qianhan Lin and Wei-Jun Jean Yeung)


• Social Opportunity Function and Equity in Opportunity in China (Mengbing Zhu, Nanak Kakwani, Shi Li, and Xiaobing Wang)


• Structural Isolation, Social Support, and Depression of Older Adults in Shanghai (Joonmo Son)


• Social and Human Capitals in Chinese Occupational Attainment: 1964–2014 (Yanjie Bian and Cheng Cheng)


• Chinese Wealth Inequality: Housing, Financial Assets, and the Emergence of a Wealthy Elite (Lisa A Keister and Wei Lei)


• Subjective Social Status in Urban China: Exploring the Impact of Family Resources and Social Networks (Xianbi Huang)


• Environmental Concern in China: Mediating Effects of Generalized Trust and Social Integration (Feng Hao, Lijun Song and Yvonne Chen)


• Fertility Policy and Social Change in China (Juhua Yang)


• Social Networks, Wages, and Job Tenure Among Migrant Workers in China: Heterogeneous Effects over Time and by Education (Lei Lei and Zai Liang)


• It’s the Desire that Makes a Change: On the Mechanism of Migrant Workers’ Class Elevation Under the Background of New-Type Urbanization (Haifeng Du, Dongdong Gu and Yanjun Liu)


• Housing Inequality in China: Past, Present, and Future (Yiping Fang and John R Logan)


• All Boats Rise with a Rising Tide? Marketization, Rural Migrants and Housing Inequality in Urban China (Yushu Zhu, Jiaxin Gu and Qiang Fu)


• Temporal Work Arrangements and Well-Being in China (Wen Fan and Ruilin Chen)


• Subjective Social Status and Health Among the Chinese Elderly (Yuhan You, Guangye He and Yunsong Chen)


• Social Class, Social Capital, and Altruistic Behaviors in Metropolitan China (Meng Chen and Wenhong Zhang)


• Reshuffled Stratification Order and Perceptions of Distributive Justice and Social Problems in Urban China (Wei Zhao)


• Social Origins of Migrant Workers’ Radicalism: How Social Ties Work in the Chinese Industrial Places? (Yan Zhu and Yu Li)

Readership: As key or recommended textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students doing sociology, especially China studies; for Ph D students or other researchers engaged in China research; for social scientists in economics, demography, politics, management/business studies interested in the socio-economic development and social division in China; for third-sector researchers, government researchers and the general public who are interested in the post-reform socio-economic development in China.

‘This book is a wonderful resource for understanding contemporary China. It is a must-read for university students, academic researchers, and the general public who wish to understand socio-economic conditions in China. The editors are leading authorities on social stratification in China and the individual chapters provide insightful accounts of the many different aspects of inequality. I am impressed by the breadth, depth and clarity of analysis which together provide an unrivalled account of Chinese social stratification.’ – Anthony Heath Emeritus Professor of Sociology University of Oxford, UK

‘This is a very useful compendium. Two features particularly recommend it. First, the editors have taken a very broad view of inequality. There are papers not only on the usual suspects — education, occupational status, and income — but also on the role of socio-economic development, migration and urbanization, and social networks (a particular interest of Prof. Bian), and institutional factors specific to China, such as the hukou system, the treatment of urban youth during the Cultural Revolution, and the role of the Chinese Communist Party in exacerbating or mitigating inequality, and on housing, health, and well-being as aspects of inequality. Second, the papers are generally accessible to undergraduates and less statistically oriented readers, not avoiding statistical analysis but presenting the analysis in an easy-to-follow way.’ – Donald J Treiman Distinguished Research Professor and Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), USA

‘This timely book pulls together a remarkable range of up-to-date and cutting-edge scholarship on almost every dimension of China’s puzzlingly high levels of inequality. A wide range of readers, from experts to students, will benefit from its comprehensive coverage of the subject.’ – Andrew Walder Denise O’Leary and Kent Thiry Professor Stanford University, USA

Key Features:

• The unique feature of this book is its approach and coverage. It is not a purely theoretical or qualitative book but is a combination of cutting-edge theory and solid empirical analysis. The chapters cover important areas of socio-economic inequality in contemporary China


• The authors conducted theory-led and methodologically-rigorous analysis based on the most authoritative national representative social surveys. Apart from the editors who are leading scholars on social mobility and social networks, the contributors include many eminent scholars such as Martin Whyte, John Logan, Lisa Keister; well-established scholars such as Zai Liang, Haifeng Du, Wenhong Zhang, Lingxin Hao, Xiaoling Shu, Yiping Fang, Yunsong Chen, Xianbi Huang, Juhua Yang, Yu Li and Jean Yeung as well as rising stars such as Meng Chen, Joomo Son, Feng Hao, Lijun Song, Qiang Fu, Wen Fan, Wei Zhao, Xiaobing Wang and Yan Zhu


• The authors are based in the UK, USA, China, Australia and Singapore and have conducted many years of research on socio-economic life in China