A Middle Class Without Democracy: Economic Growth and the Prospects for Democratization in China
- ISBN-10
- 0199324085
- ISBN-13
- 9780199324088
- Category
- Political Science
- Pages
- 240
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2013-03-19
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Author
- Jie Chen
Description
What kind of role can the middle class play in potential democratization in such an undemocratic, late developing country as China? To answer this profound political as well as theoretical question, Jie Chen explores attitudinal and behavioral orientation of China's new middle class to democracy and democratization. Chen's work is based on a unique set of data collected from a probability-sample survey and in-depth interviews of residents in three major Chinese cities, Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'an--each of which represents a distinct level of economic development in urban China-in 2007 and 2008. The empirical findings derived from this data set confirm that (1) compared to other social classes, particularly lower classes, the new Chinese middle class-especially those employed in the state apparatus-tends to be more supportive of the current Party-state but less supportive of democratic values and institutions; (2) the new middle class's attitudes toward democracy may be accounted for by this class's close ideational and institutional ties with the state, and its perceived socioeconomic wellbeing, among other factors; (3) the lack of support for democracy among the middle class tends to cause this social class to act in favor of the current state but in opposition to democratic changes. The most important political implication is that while China's middle class is not likely to serve as the harbinger of democracy now, its current attitudes toward democracy may change in the future. Such a crucial shift in the middle class's orientation toward democracy can take place, especially when its dependence on the Party-state decreases and perception of its own social and economic statuses turns pessimistic. The key theoretical implication from the findings suggests that the attitudinal and behavioral orientations of the middle class-as a whole and as a part-toward democratic change in late developing countries are contingent upon its relationship with the incumbent state and its perceived social/economic wellbeing, and the middle class's support for democracy in these countries is far from inevitable.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2013-04-25
- 240 pages
- Paperback
- OUP USA
Similar books
-
The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy
By Bryn RosenfeldRosenfeld explains this phenomenon by showing how modern autocracies secure support from key middle-class constituencies.
-
The Middle Class and Democracy in Socio-Historical Perspective
By Ronald M. GlassmanThis volume presents an in-depth study of the commercial middle class and its link with legal-democratic processes. The material presented is critical for understanding both the future of democracy, and its past.
-
The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution: Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic
By Ganesh Sitaraman"Argues that America's strong and sizable middle class is actually embedded in the framework of the nation's government and its founding document and discusses the necessity of taking equality-establishing measures, "--NoveList.
-
Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government
By Joshua KurlantzickIn this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions.
-
The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, Oregon
By Robert D. JohnstonThis book is a powerful combination of intellectual, business, labor, medical, and, above all, political history.
-
Makers of Democracy: A Transnational History of the Middle Classes in Colombia
By A. Ricardo López-PedrerosIn Makers of Democracy A. Ricardo López-Pedreros traces the ways in which a thriving middle class was understood to be a foundational marker of democracy in Colombia during the second half of the twentieth century.
-
Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class
By Jacob S. Hacker, Paul PiersonAnalyzes the growing divide between the incomes of the wealthy class and those of middle-income Americans, exonerating popular suspects to argue that the nation's political system promotes greed and under-representation.
-
Middle Class, Civil Society and Democracy in Asia
By Hsin-Huang Michael HsiaoThis book offers a timely analysis of the tripartite links between the middle class, civil society and democratic experiences in Northeast and Southeast Asia.
-
A New Contract with the Middle Class
By Isabel V. Sawhill, Richard V. ReevesIn A New Contract with the Middle Class Brookings senior fellows Isabel Sawhill and Richard Reeves outline the foundations of what that new contract should be, based on discussions they had across the country with middle-class Americans.
-
It's the Middle Class, Stupid!
By Stan Greenberg, James CarvilleI had learned a lot from James Q. Wilson, my dissertation adviser at Harvard, about understanding urban life and the seriousness of crime, and from Robert Dahl and Bob Lane, my colleagues at Yale, who had written classic works after ...