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 i...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.展开更多
文摘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.
