scholarly journals Residence Permits and Points Systems: New Forms of Educational and Social Stratification in Urban China

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (125) ◽  
pp. 647-666
Author(s):  
Yiming Dong ◽  
Charlotte Goodburn
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Urban China

Variations in the adoption and use of mobile social apps in everyday lives in urban and rural China

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pu Yan ◽  
Ralph Schroeder
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Central China ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Digital Gap ◽  
Everyday Problem

China has in recent years seen the rapid adoption of multifunctional social networking applications such as WeChat. This paper aims to explore if China’s social stratification has influenced the adoption and use of mobile social apps and if social apps such as WeChat can help to bridge the digital divide by providing urban and rural users equal access to diverse information and communication resources. The study is based on 4 months of fieldwork in the Henan Province of central China and combines quantitative data from surveys and qualitative data from semistructured interviews and focus groups. We found that there still exists a digital gap in the adoption and use of mobile social apps such as WeChat between rural and urban China, but such differences are also associated with demographic variables such as age, gender, and education level. Meanwhile, we found that WeChat has become more than a communication tool; it has also played an essential role in everyday problem-solving and information seeking for both rural and urban users. Our qualitative interviews and focus group studies reveal how WeChat influences various aspects of daily life in developing areas in China. We argue that although some divides in information seeking are being overcome, other new divides are emerging.

scholarly journals Editors' welcome, PORTAL, Vol 6, No 2, July 2009

1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Allatson
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Urban China ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
New Members ◽  
Editorial Committee ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The University

‘Post-Mao, Post-Bourdieu: Class and Taste in Contemporary China,’ is a special issue of PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies guest-edited by Yi Zheng (University of Sydney) and Stephanie Hemelryk Donald (RMIT University). The special issue explores the relationship between taste, choice and social stratification in contemporary China, and includes a new section, ‘New Perspectives Reports,’ which is intended to showcase opinion and ideas—in this case from the People’s Republic of China, in Mandarin—that complement the main articles. We hope to include this section in future issues of the journal. The guest editors and the PORTAL editorial committee would like to acknowledge that this special issue of is a result of a funding grant from the Australian Research Council, 2003-2005: ‘The Making of Middle-Class Taste: Reading, Tourism, and Educational Choices in Urban China.’ I am also delighted to announce that the PORTAL Editorial Committee has three new members, all from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney: Dr Malcolm Angelucci, Dr Beatriz Carrillo, and Dr Fredericka van der Lubbe. Paul Allatson, Editor, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies.

scholarly journals Danwei Profitability and Earnings Inequality in Urban China

2008 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 558-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Xie ◽  
Xiaogang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Political Capital ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Work Unit ◽  
Reform Era ◽  
Financial Situation ◽  
Employment Sector ◽  
Using Data

AbstractPrior research has debated the relative importance of such factors as human capital, political capital and region in determining workers' earnings in reform-era urban China. This article argues that a main agent of social stratification in contemporary China continues to be the danwei, the work unit. Using data from a 1999 survey we conducted in three large Chinese cities, Wuhan, Shanghai and Xi'an, we assess the extent to which workers' earnings (including regular wages, bonuses and subsidies) depend on the profitability of their danwei. Results show that the financial situation of the danwei is one of the most important determinants of earnings in today's urban China. Furthermore, the importance of danwei profitability does not vary by city or by employment sector.

scholarly journals Housing wealth inequality in urban China: the transition from welfare allocation to market differentiation

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunling Li ◽  
Yiming Fan
Keyword(s):  
Social Stratification ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Market Transition ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Housing Wealth ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Institutional Effect ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Housing Assets

Abstract The differentiation of housing assets is an important embodiment of wealth inequality and is also an important dimension of social stratification. The housing distribution in China has experienced a transition from welfare allocation to market distribution over the decades. This process has led to a change in the housing stratification mechanism and widened housing wealth inequality, which has evoked theoretical disputes about “market transition,” “power persistence,” and “power derivation.” Based on the 2017 Chinese Social Survey (CSS), this article examines the housing wealth inequality in urban China and probes the major drivers of housing stratification. The results suggest that with the progress of housing marketization, market mechanisms have replaced the original socialist redistribution mechanisms and have become the major drivers of housing wealth inequality. However, some of the original socialist institutional arrangements continue to have strong effects on housing wealth inequality. The persisting institutional effect may provide a new perspective for exploring housing wealth inequality in contemporary urban China.

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