摘要
The changing mechanism of social stratification in market transition in China has received much attention and given rise to theoretical controversies both inside and outside China. The central question of the debate is whether the mechanism of social stratification formed under traditional socialism persists in the transformation from a planned economy to a market economy, and whether the elite stratum is reproduced or circulated. To answer these questions, I develop a ＂power generation theory＂ to explain the mechanism of social stratification in contemporary China. In this paper I will present the logic of this theory, and examine a set of hypotheses of income inequality based on the proposed theory with sampling survey data collected in Wuhan City, PRC, in 2003.
本文提出了用以解释当前中国社会阶层分化机制的“权力衍生论”。作者认为，在放权让利的改革和市场化过程中，社会经济制度安排发生了变化，新的制度安排不但为公共权力继续以再分配权力的形式在阶层分化中发挥作用提供了制度基础，还为公共权力衍生成权力精英的“寻租能力”并以与再分配权力不同的机制对阶层分化产生影响提供了条件；而随着市场机制的发育，市场能力也在阶层分化中起着重要作用。因此，当前中国市场经济的基本制度安排决定了再分配权力、寻租能力和市场能力共同构成了阶层分化的动力基础。基于此论的关于收入分配的研究假设，得到了2003年取自武汉的抽样调查资料的支持。研究结果表明，权力衍生论比“权力转移论”和“权力持续论”都能更好地解释当前中国社会的精英循环／再生现象。
