This thesis studies the perceived tension between classes in contemporary urban China using the 1992 urban survey data. By investigating people¡¯s class identification and perceived class tension, I find that middle class identification exists widely in urban Chinese society and the perceived class tension is not strong enough to threaten the existing political regime and social stability, or to push further reforms and the progress of democratization. My findings provide some explanations to the two puzzles that have confused researchers of China studies: persistence of non-democratic political institutions despite robust economic development, and persistence of regime stability despite increasing social inequality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12082006-022021 |
| Date | 23 January 2007 |
| Creators | Zhang, Xi |
| Contributors | Wenfang Tang, Thomas Rawski, Xinmin Liu |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12082006-022021/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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