Social Transformation in China

Since the late 1970s, China has transformed itself from an inefficient centrally-planned backwater to a fast-growing market-orientated economy. Whilst economic reform has enabled average living standards to improve immensely, the benefits have been shared disproportionately depending on demographic factors such as location, age, gender and social class.

The aim of this new four-volume collection is to address some of the pertinent questions raised by the difference in ordinary people’s experience of China’s economic modernisation. In particular: What are the socio-cultural transformations accompanying China’s economic transition? What are the experiences and responses of people who have gone through these social changes? What are the theoretical implications for social scientists who study social and economic development?

Social Transformation in China answers these questions by collecting essential and cutting-edge scholarship to reflect and capture experiences of socio-cultural transformations in China. Topics covered include the issues around work, the restructuring of state enterprises, unemployment, changes in welfare provisions, migration and women workers’ experiences; the family, such as love and marriage, one-child policy, and ageing; the cultural domain including topics on media and consumption; the emergence of civil society, including topics on religion and non-government organizations.

Given China’s ever growing economic influence, and sheer population size, there is an increasing demand from the rest of the world to understand Chinese society and its rapid economic modernisation. By collecting the work of leading figures on China from disciplines such as Sociology, Anthropology, Social Policy, Cultural Studies and Political Sciences, this set will not only appeal to researchers and students in Chinese Studies but also more widely to academics and policymakers who are concerned with the social impact of economic development.