[Asia_news] PSC Seminar 3:00 pm 13 Nov
Lyn Ning
lyn.ning at anu.edu.au
Mon Oct 30 14:21:54 EST 2006
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Pre-field work Seminar
Topic
Middle Class Opportunities in Transitional Urban China
Speaker
Ms. Beibei Tang, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political and Social Change,
ANU
Date & Venue
3:00 - 4:30 pm, Monday 13 November 2006, Seminar Room D, Coombs Building,
ANU
Abstract
This research is designed to contribute to the study of social
stratification and mobility in a transitional society, with particular focus
on the mechanism of the urban middle class status attainment in contemporary
China. This research is expected to explicate the role of the Chinese new
middle classes in the process of new social structure formation, through
their opportunities to pursue and reinforce their middle class status.
Research efforts will be devoted to investigate the urban middle class
opportunities. The main research puzzles focus on 1) who became or will
become the Chinese urban middle classes; 2) how do individuals achieve
middle class status; and 3) how do they secure and reinforce their obtained
status? Empirically, two main questions drive my investigation. First, to
what extent do the individual and organizational factors, and social
networks influence one's middle class status attainment, and do clearly
defined paths of middle class status achievement exist? Second, how does the
particular path to the middle class status attainment affect behaviors,
lifestyle choices, and political and social attitudes of this new type of
middle class? By conducting both in-depth interviews in middle class
communities in Shenyang and statistical analysis on national survey data,
this research is expected to provide empirical results to the research
questions above.
**********************************************
Lyn Ning
Department of Political and Social Change
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Coombs Building, Building 9
Australian National University
Tel: 6125 4790
Fax: 6125 5523
Email: <mailto:lyn.ning at anu.edu.au> lyn.ning at anu.edu.au
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