Collaborative Research: The State and Life Chances in Urban China

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This is a study of the transition of the People's Republic of China from a command economy to a market-oriented economy, focusing on the birth of a civil society that can form the basis of later democratization and on the ways that these massive changes affect the life pathways and life chances of individuals. The project will collect and analyze 3,000 retrospective life histories of a stratified representative sample of urban residents. It will examine the impacts of the distinctive mechanisms of stratification in state socialist redistributive systems: 1) the hierarchical order of occupations and organizations, and 2) political changes, including political campaigns and sudden, sharp shifts in state policy. The dynamics of stratification will be modeled using an event history framework. In addition, the study will examine new stratifying mechanisms introduced as part of the economic reforms of recent years. %%% This research will contribute to scientific understanding of the interplay between state policies and the life course, providing insights for comparative analysis of stratification systems. Research on the most populous nation, that has chosen to undertake radical evolution toward market economy while holding back political democratization, will contribute greatly to the knowledge base on which policy makers can base their decisions.