Informative Synthesis Essay
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Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
【當代中國研究】Modern China Studies Vol. 20, No. 1, 2013
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Desperately Seeking Status : Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of
China’s Rising Middle Class
Wang Xin
Baylor University
Abstract: The emerging middle class represents China’s economic and social
elite. This study examines its political, social, and cultural attributes. The middle
class has not shown a strong predisposition to be a driving force in leading
political and social changes, but is more concerned about social and economic
status. The research also shows that there is a lack of a vibrant civic life and
associational life among the middle class citizens. Because of its increasing
purchasing power, the middle-class is reshaping China’s urban consumer and
popular culture. It asserts its economic and social status by conspicuous
consumption in purchases of housing, home furnishing, art, and leisurely
activities.
Keywords: China, Middle Class
The author wishes to acknowledge support for the surveys provided by the
University Research Committee and the Young Investigators Research Program
at Baylor University. The author wants to thank Anne Schultz for suggesting the
title for the article and Candi Cann for sharing her suggestions for the article.
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
【當代中國研究】Modern China Studies Vol. 20, No. 1, 2013
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提升地位：中国新兴中产阶层的政治、社会及文化特征
王欣
美国贝勒大学
摘要：中国新兴的中产阶层代表着中国经济与社会的精英。这篇文
章试图探讨这一阶层的政治，社会和文化方面的特征。在政治层
面，他们对其既得的利益更加关注，而对于是否成为推动社会与政
治变革的力量很默然。在社会生活层面，研究显示中产阶层缺乏丰
富的公共社区及社团生活。在文化层面，中产阶层通过其不断增长
的购买力正在改变中国的消费文化和大众文化的固有模式。他们通
过购房、装修、收藏、穿着及休闲等炫耀性消费活动来显示其独特
的品味和提升其社会地位。
关键词：中国，中产阶层
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
【當代中國研究】Modern China Studies Vol. 20, No. 1, 2013
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Introduction
China’s emerging middle class, which has been created as the result
of the recent economic reform and the restructuring of the labor market,
has drawn both academic and journalistic interests from scholars in both
China and overseas.1 Scholarly studies have been primarily concerned
about the question whether or not China’s middle class will become a
catalyst for political democratization and social transformation in China.2
However, what remains unclear are the political, social, and cultural
values, views and behavioral attributes that China’s middle class
possesses. Social, political, and cultural attributes are important variables
and may reflect certain common values among the rising middle class in
China. These attributes and values may hold the middle class together and
eventually form the collective class identity. Therefore, it is crucial to
1 Christopher Buckley, “How a Revolution Becomes a Dinner Party: Stratification,
Mobility and the New Riches in Urban China”, in Michael Pinches (ed.), Culture
and Privilege in Capitalist Asia (London: Routledge, 1999), 208-29; David S. G.
Goodman, “The New Middle Class”, in Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFarquhar
(eds.), The Paradox of China’s Post-Mao Reforms (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press, 1999), 241-61; Lu Xueyi, ed., Research Report on the Social Strata
in Contemporary China [in Chinese] (Beijing, China: Social Science Documentation
Publishing House, 2002); Li Chunling, “Middle Stratum: The Group of the Chinese
Society Needs Attention”, in Zai Ruxin (ed.), 2004: The Analysis and Forecast of
the Condition of the Chinese Society [in Chinese] (Beijing, China: Social Science
Documentation Publishing House, 2004). 2 Cheng Li, ed., China’s Emerging Middle Class, (Washington, D.C.: Brookings
Institution Press, 2010).
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
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examine socio-political-cultural attributes and behavioral patterns of the
middle class.
This article intends to explore the characteristics of China’s rising
middle class in three dimensions： its political views, social capital and
cultural behaviors. The central goal of the study is to understand the
political, social, and cultural attributes of China's rising middle class as
the middle class may play a vital role (or perhaps the most important
catalyst) in China's democratization and cultural transformation.
Following this broad line of inquiry, this article intends to answer the
following questions： what political and social concerns does the middle
class have？ How does the middle class participate in political and civic
activities ？ How do the middle-class individuals and families
socialize？ What social activities are they engaged in？ What type of
civic life do they have？ How the middle class, as urban consumers, use
consumption to differentiate itself from other classes and develop a class
awareness associated with its tastes and lifestyles？ How does China’s
middle class assert its status through symbols, styles, and conspicuous
consumption？ And is there a middlebrow culture forming among
middle class？
Defining the Middle Class
Conventionally, the middle class is defined based on its economic
capital (income, business ownership, occupations, and property
ownership) and its social capital (education, and social and political
network). Though divergent opinions exist on how to define and
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
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distinguish China’s middle class from the rest of the society, Chinese
scholars agree that occupation is a primary factor as it has already
reflected income levels and social-economic status and, therefore, can be
used as the main denominator to identify the middle class.3 What is noted
is that China’s new middle class represents a wide range of professions. It
primarily includes intermediate-level business professionals, mid-level
managers, and private business owners. Business professionals, also
known as the so-called “white collars,” are office workers of businesses
and enterprises in China. They often have a high level of education,
professional training, and living standard. China’s middle class also
includes a public servant stratum, which consists of government
3 A study by the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) in 2001 used occupation
as the primary indicator to define Chinese middle-income stratum. The estimate
number of middle-class households in China was 80 million. The CASS report
adopted the term zhongchan jieji, which means “the middle property stratum,” to
deemphasize the income and the ownership of private assets and properties but use
the occupational characteristics as the criteria for the new social class. Some scholars
define the middle class as the socio-economic group with annual household earnings
of 30,000 RMB ($3,600) (see Yang Yiyong ed., Equality and Efficiency: The Issue
of Distribution of Income in Contemporary China [in Chinese], (Beijing: Today’s
China Publishing House, 1997). China’s National Bureau of Statistics posits the
annual income of middle-income households in a range from 60,000 RMB
(US$7,500) to 500,000 RMB (US$62,000) in its 2005 report (People’s Daily,
China’s Middle Class Defined by Income [in Chinese], January 20, 2005). Li
Chunling used multiple factors to define the middle class: the middle class would be
15.9 percent of the whole population when using professions and occupations, 24.6
percent when using income, 35 percent when using consumption, 46.8 percent when
using self-identification (subjective cognition). (In “The Composition and Proportion
of the Present Chinese Middle Class,” Chinese Journal of Population Science, no. 6,
2003, Beijing).
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
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employees, who exert a strong influence in public and social sectors as
the result of the administrative reform in Chinese government system.
Some government cadres have transferred from administrative positions
to managerial positions in business sector. They are referred as the “quasi
middle class” due to their employment status and social ties with the state
and the ruling party.4 Some of them are senior managerial staff of
state-owned enterprises (SOE) who gained income and control over state
properties and production materials as the result of the privatization of
state enterprises. They are often regarded as “red capitalists” and are
shareholders of transformed state enterprises. 5 Meanwhile, a wide
spectrum of professions has emerged in the transition towards a
market-oriented economy. New professionals with knowledge in special
areas, such as certified public accountants, lawyers, biotech and IT
engineers, judicial workers, and medical staff, are regarded as the typical
middle class. They have a stable income, a high-level education and
professional training, and promising career prospect. In addition, China’s
intellectuals, including university professors, writers, and artists, are
recognized as the middle class. 6 In the post-Mao reform era, the
intellectual group has gained political recognition and social prestige as
well as financial privileges.
4 Li Qiang, “Market Transition and the Generation’s Alteration of China’s Middle
Class,” Strategy and Management, no. 3, 1999. 5 Bruce Dickson, Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and
Prospects for Political Change (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
2003). 6 Zhou Xiaohong, ed. , Survey of the Chinese Middle Class (page 6, 16, 227), Social
Sciences Academic Press, Beijing, China. 2005.
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Different from lower-income strata, which include rural residents,
the urban working class, and laid-off laborers, China’s middle class
possesses a relatively high level of education, professional skills and a
relatively stable and high income. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(CASS) research shows in its study that about 73 percent of the
respondents have a postsecondary-level education or above, which gives
this group an advantage in acquiring other social, economic, cultural and
political capital.7 Middle class professionals can also be categorized into
two groups according to their professions： “corporate professionals,”
who are salaried employees working for foreign businesses and
enterprises, and “service professionals,” who are salaried employees in
such occupations as teachers and college professors, intellectuals,
lawyers, journalists, state administrators, cultural workers and located in
the state and non-profit sectors. 8 “Corporate professionals” include
managers, engineers, architects, accountants, and IT professionals, who
are employed by corporations.
7 Lu Xueyi (ed.), Research Report on the Social Mobility in Contemporary China [in
Chinese] (Beijing, China: Social Science Documentation Publishing House, 2004). 8 This concept is discussed by Alvin Y. So, “Western Sociological Theories and Hong
Kong’s New Middle Class,” in Discovery of the Middle Classes in East Asia,
Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, ed., (Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica,
1993), 219-245.
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Research Design
Questions for this research were drawn from survey works on social
capital. 9 Research questions are categories into three subsections：
political views, social activities, and cultural activities. The study used a
random stratified sampling, which was devised by the University of
Michigan’s Survey Research Center (SRC). This procedure was modified
to apply for this research purpose and Chinese context by using
profession and household income as criteria to recognize samples. The
sample population for this study was stratified according to professions.
The research identified five districts for random sampling in Beijing,
including Haidian, Chaoyang, Dongcheng, Xicheng, and Chongwen.
Interviewers would go to residential communities in the five districts to
get samples. The population was stratified according to different
“middle-income” occupations. Stratified sampling ensures adequate
representation of each subgroup by profession.
Interviewers were graduate students of social sciences from Renmin
University and were trained with surveying techniques for the project.
9 A survey instrument was devised and modified based on three commonly used
questionnaires, Inglehart’s the World Values Survey, Almond and Verba’s Civic
Culture Survey, and the World Bank’s Social Capital Survey. A total of forty
questions were drawn from these survey works on social values. The survey was
translated into Chinese and tested out in a pilot study for its clarity, and accuracy.
The interviewers, primarily graduate students in social sciences from two
universities, conducted face-to-face interviews with each subject individually. Each
interview followed through structured questions of the instrument in length from
twenty to twenty-five minutes.
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Individual cases for in-depth interviews were selected from the sample
population on the basis that they would provide information-rich cases.
Contact was made to get permission for an intensive interview. Each of
intensive interviews was recorded on audiotape and extensive notes were
taken. A structured questionnaire was used to conduct the individual
interview.
A total of 216 surveys were collected from households in residential
communities in Beijing in Summer, 2005, and focused individual
interviews were conducted in Summer, 2006. The sample size was small
due to the experimental character of the undertaking and considerations
of cost of a large-scale national probability sample. Beijing estimates to
have about 20 to 25 percent middle class of its population and represents
the rapid economic and social development seen in the last three decades.
Though the level of wealth and income is relatively higher than that of
interior cities, findings of a recent study show that regional inequality in
personal disposable income of urban household fell sharply from 1995 to
2002.10 The average annual income per capita in 2006 is 17,653 RMB
(US$2,053) in Beijing, which is higher than the national average annual
income per capita 11,663 RMB (US$1505).11 The average size of the
household is three people. The 216 samples meet the income criterion,
which identifies the middle-income stratum as households with an annual
income ranging from 60,000 RMB (US$7,250) to 500,000 RMB
10 Azizur R. Khan and Carl Riskin, “China’s Household Income and Its Distribution,
1995 and 2002,” The China Quarterly, 183 (2005): 356-384. 11 Data from the National Bureau of Statistics: http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/
statisticaldata/Quarterlydata/.
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(US$62,000) (See Table 1). Using the annual income as a criterion is
consistent with the categorization of the China’s National Bureau of
Statistics and the Social Science Academy’s survey projects. The sample
reflects a diverse range of professions defined as middle-income
occupations, including university professors, business administrators,
government office workers, small business owners, engineers and
scientists, and “white-collar” business professionals (See Table 2).
Table 1. Sample Classification by Average Annual Household Income
Annual Household Income Percentage of
Samples
60,000 and 80,000 RMB (US$7,250 to 10,000) 46
80,001 and 120,000 RMB (US$10,000 to 15,000) 38
120,001 and 200,000 RMB (US$15,000 to 25,000) 10
Above 200,000 RMB (US$25,000) 6
Table 2. Sample Representation by Profession
Occupations Percent
Civil servants 10.6
University Professors 10.2
School Teachers 3.7
Researchers 4.2
Technology and Computer Engineers 8.3
Business professionals
(foreign/state-owned/private enterprises) 38.9
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
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Administrators and Managers 4.2
Medical professionals 5.1
Legal Professionals 2.3
Small business owners 6.9
Independent freelancers (writers, actors, etc.) 5.6
Total Percentage 100.0
Political Orientation: Forerunners or Slowpokes？
The key question of the research is concerned about the political
orientation of the middle class—whether the emergence and growth of
the middle class leads to a higher probability of a transition to democracy.
The traditional view of political sociology holds that economic
development leads to political democratization and industrialization,
urbanization-accompanied by the concentration of population and
development of mass communications media helping the spread of
information, and an elevation of education level and growth of the middle
class─all of which contribute to the emergence of democracy.12 Lipset
argues that the emergence of an educated and self-assured middle class is
an important precondition of the transition to democracy and it often acts
as the change agent of society. In his view, the middle class has
democratic political attitudes that are attained through education because
middle-class occupations require an educated population.
12 Seymour M. Lipset, “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic
Development and Political Legitimacy,” American Political Science Review 53
(1959): 69-105.
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The East Asian economic experience suggests that the middle class
play an important role in democratization.13 The democratization trend in
East Asia during the 1970s and 1980s suggests that the rapid growth of
middle classes has led to the rise of social movements concerned with the
environmental degradation, labor exploitation, and government
corruption. These rising civic participations in social and political
activities of the middle-class population validate the argument that civic
attitudes and values of the middle class are important conditions that
make democracy possible. The middle class is at the nexus of the
relationship between economic success and the authoritarian regime. It
has shown a duality in its relationship with the state in the transition to
industrialization and democracy. On one hand, the middle class has
clashes with the state as the state often uses power and authority to
legitimize itself. On the other hand, the middle class depends on the state
to use the state’s power and authority to stabilize the society in order to
achieve its own needs and preserve its own benefits. The middle class has
become calculative and the slowpokes when facing political changes
towards democracy.
Recent studies of China’s middle class, though limited in number,
have provided insights into the political outlook of this newly formed
stratum. Tsai’s research on private entrepreneurs, a small group of the
13 Hagen Koo, “Middle Classes, Democratization, and Class Formation: The Case of
South Korea,” Theory and Society 20, no. 4 (1991): 485-509; John Girling,
Interpreting Development: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Middle Class in
Thailand (Cornell University South East Asia Publications, 1996); Hsin-huang
Hsiao, Discovery of the Middle Classes in East Asia (Institute of Ethnology,
Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 1993).
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middle class, finds that most entrepreneurs feel that the system generally
works for them and are they not opting for democracy.14 Her research
shows that entrepreneurs are occupied with work and are concerned about
their businesses, child’s education, and going abroad to live. Chen and
Dickson’s survey of entrepreneurs and private business people in five
coastal provinces concur that entrepreneurs favor some basic political
reforms but not support any systemic political change or any radical
move toward democratization.15 Chen and Lu’s recent study on attitudes
of the middle class towards democratization reveals that the middle class
is less in favor of the democratic values and institutions due to its close
and dependent relationship with the incumbent party-state as well as its
satisfaction with its own social and economic conditions under the current
regime.16
Instead of directly addressing the question whether the middle class
will lead any political transition or not, this research takes a
comprehensive approach to acquiring multidimensional data about the
class rather than just their political views on democratic institutions and
rights. This includes political awareness, political participation, and
channels of political communication.
14 Kellee S. Tsai, Capitalism Without Democracy: The Private Sector in Contemporary
China (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2007). 15 Jie Chen and Bruce Dickson, Allies of the State: Private Entrepreneurs and
Democratic Change in China, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010). 16 Jie Chen and Chunlong Lu, “Democratization and the Middle Class in China: The
Middle Class's Attitudes toward Democracy,” Political Research Quarterly 64(2010)
705-719.
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Political and civic awareness measures the degree of attention given
to political affairs. It is an important factor to indicate how actively the
survey population participates in political and civic life and activities, and
how well it is aware of political and social affairs. Many political
scientists agree that political awareness indicates a sense of obligation to
participate in political and civic activities as well as a sense of
competence to participate.17 The data from this research show a high
percentage of respondents followed public and political affairs (See Table
3). When asked about how interested they are in public and social affairs,
about 27 percent of the respondents described themselves as being
interested in politics and public affairs (See Table 4). An overwhelming
majority of respondents said they were “somewhat interested.” One
interpretation of such a strong interest in social and public affairs is to
attribute this behavioral pattern to educational levels. Public awareness is
closely related to the level of educational attainment and socio-economic
position. 18 This group has a relatively high level of educational
attainment： 94 percent of respondents have college degrees, compared to
the average 4.9 percent of the country. When asked about why the
middle-income individuals do not feel interested in public and
governmental affairs, 38 percent responded that they were more
concerned about their own personal development and wellbeing (See
Table 5).
17 Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba. 18 Ibid.
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Table 3. Frequency of Following Accounts of Public and Political
Affairs
Frequency Percent
Regularly 42
From time to time 50
Not often 8
Never 0
Total percentage 100
The Actual Question： “Do you follow the accounts of public and
political affairs？ Would you say you follow them regularly, from time
to time, not often, or never？”
Table 4. Self-perception of Political Interest
Political Interest Levels Percent
Very interested and concerned about 27
Somewhat interested and concerned 68
Not concerned at all 4
Don’t know 1
Total percentage 100
The Actual Question： “Are you interested in politics and public affairs？
Would you say you are very interested, somewhat interested, not
interested, or don’t know？”
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Table 5. Reasons not to feel interested in Political and Public Affairs
Reasons Percent
Political affairs are too complicated to be concerned. 31
More concerned about personal development and
well-being 38
It will not make any difference 24
Others 7
Total Percentage 100
Another dimension of the political life of the middle class is
reflected through the political communication. China’s middle class turns
to mass media for political issues and news. Newspapers and TV and
radio are still the two predominant sources to acquire information on
political and public affairs (See Table 6). The analysis of variance
examines the variability in the sample in order to determine whether the
population means are equal or not (See Table 7). The result of the
analysis shows that age and education are two strong factors affecting the
frequent usage of the Internet as an information source of political and
public issues. Respondents over 50 years old tend to use the Internet
much less frequently than the younger age groups, especially the age
group of 30 to 39. The Internet is becoming an important information
source of political and public issues, especially among the younger age
groups of 25 to 40. Respondents with higher education levels tend to use
it much more frequently than those without college education. In terms of
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other mass media, the research shows that respondents with relatively
lower income levels tend to depend on TV and radio to acquire political
information more than those with higher income levels. Respondents over
50 years old tend to use newspaper more frequently than the younger age
groups of the respondents.
China’s middle class depends on mass media not only for political
information, but also for political communication. The result of this
research shows when asked which approach is the most effective way to
influence politics and public policy-making, more than half of the
respondents think writing and speaking to mass news media will be the
most effective way to influence the public and government
policy-making, public demonstration is rated as the least effective
approach to influencing politics and public policy-making (See Table 8).
The middle class tends to depend on mass media to participate in political
communication and often turns to the press to voice their concerns and
opinions.
Table 6. Frequency of Exposure to Mass Media
Frequency Newspaper TV and Radio Internet
Almost everyday 48 56 36
3-4 times weekly 35 37 16
From time to time 16 7 32
Not often 1 0 10
Never 0 0 6
The Actual Question： “How often do you read newspaper, watch news
on TV, listen to news on radio, read news on the Internet？ Would you
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say you do it almost everyday, three to four times weekly, from time to
time, not often, or never？”
Table 7. Frequency of Political Communication and Exposure to
Mass Media
by Age, Gender, Education, and Income
Table 8. What are the Most Effective and the Least Effective
Approaches to Influencing Politics and Government Policymaking？
To influence politics and
government
Percentage feel the
approach is the
most effective
Percentage feel
the approach is
the least effective
Contact personal friends and
relatives in government 4 28
Write Letters to Government 8 20
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
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officials
Organize friends and relatives 7 7
Work through the party 16 6
Through the press and mass
media 53 10
Demonstration 9 28
Public vote 3 1
Total (n = 216) 100.0 100.0
The middle class tends to engage in a digital form rather than the
traditional form of political participation. A popular form of online
political and public communication is blogging. Citizens turn to the
blogosphere to communicate and express their interests and concerns.
Though the Internet is heavily censored by the state, there is perceived
safety and freedom among online users. Blogging “boke” and
microblogging “weibo” are rising and thriving in China among Internet
users. Microblog users have reached 195 million. Chinese online portals,
such as sina.com, sohu.com, netease.com, provide online blogging space
for Internet users. Even the state-own newspaper People’s Daily
maintains a popular blogging space. The users feel the Internet as an open
and a free venue for political participation and discussion, especially for
the well-educated middle class, who has shown a clear advantage in
accessing and using the Internet for acquiring and sharing information
(See Table 8). In the country where no private and independent
columnists are allowed to publish on official press, blogosphere provides
a platform for user-generated content of conversations and engagement to
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express opinions on public and social issues, including views on
governmental affairs and politics. Studies about blogging behavior about
Chinese Internet users, especially about their political communication on
blogs, are still lacking. Given that Internet use will diffuse much further
and that today’s youth will continue its use in the future, cyberspace will
be likely an effective channel of public and political communication for
the growing middle class. In addition, it is worth nothing the Internet as a
new medium for information and news has taken readers and viewers
away from traditional media. There is a growing tendency of an
over-reliance on the Internet as a primary information source, especially
among the younger generations of the middle class.
Table 9. How Often Do You Post and Read Political Opinions or
Comments on the Internet？
Frequency Percentage of Posting
Online Political Opinions
Percentage of Reading
Online Political
Comments
Often 11 39
Sometimes 28 52
Never 61 9
Total (n = 216) 100.0 100.0
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The result of this survey concurs with other scholars’ observation
about the Internet use in political participation and public sphere.19 The
Internet facilitates civil society activities by offering new possibilities for
citizen participation. In addition, the Internet provides the necessary
social basis for communication and interaction. Political writings on the
Internet often express political, economic, and cultural views, promote
nationalism, and mobilize public participation in political and social
protests. Some scholars argue that the Internet will be “a key pillar of
China’s slower, evolutionary path toward increased pluralization and
possible even nascent democratization.”20
In addition, online social networking sites enable Chinese
professionals to post, share and update their personal information, and to
socialize in virtual communities. Users often build social networks based
on their professional interest as well as political interests. These sites have
various theme boards, ranging from politics, social issues and volunteer
opportunities to arts, history, and literature. The popularity of these sites
shows a burgeoning online civil society is emerging.21 Online social
19 Guobin Yang argues that through the use of bulletin boards and forums Chinese
Internet users are “engaged in the discursive construction of an online public
sphere … in a new type of political action, critical public debate.” In Guobin Yang,
“The Internet and Civil Society in China: A Preliminary Assessment,” Journal of
Contemporary China 12, no. 36 (2003): 453 - 475. 20 Michael S. Chase and James C. Mulvenon, You’ve Got Dissent! Chinese Dissent Use
of the Internet and Beijing’s Counter-Strategies (Santa Monica: RAND, 2002), p.
90. 21 Michel Hockx, “Virtual Chinese Literature: A Comparative Study of Online Poetry
Communities.” The China Quarterly, no. 183 (Sept. 2005): 670-691; Guobin Yang,
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22
networking users have increased from 1.1 million in 1999 to 229 million
in 2010.22
Over-reliance on cyberspace in political communication may have
weakened the development of civil society. Though civil society has been
emerging and burgeoning on blogosphere, the majority of the virtual civil
societies are loosely organized and structured. Some social networking
sites function as virtual social groups or associations which suit the
lifestyle and social needs of the middle class. Though the Internet has
shaped and expanded social networks, facilitated socializing activities,
and created new associational virtual communities, less than 16 percent of
respondents of this survey expressed that they had participated activities
organized by local communities in the last three years. Is the middle-class
life in the gated communities segregated from the larger society？ Is
middle class complacent with its living conditions and styles？ These
questions remain to be answered. Therefore, this research is also
concerned with social network and social activities in which the middle
class is engaged.
Social Capital and Networks: Commonweal or Self
Well-being？
Both Pierre Bourdieu and Robert Putnam have discussed the notion
of social capital. Bourdieu defines social capital to be “the aggregate of
“Environmental NGOs and Institutional Dynamics in China,” The China Quarterly,
no. 181 (2005): 46-66. 22 CNNIC Internet Development Report.
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23
the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a
durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual
acquaintance and recognition—or in other words, to membership of a
group—which provides each of its members with the backing of the
collectively-owned capital, a ‘credential’ which entitles them to credit, in
the various senses of the word.”23 In Bourdieu’s view, “the volume of the
social capital possessed by a given agent … depends on the size of the
network of connections he can effectively mobilize and on the volume of
the capital (economic, cultural or symbolic) possessed in his own right by
each of those to whom he is connected.”24 Like all other forms of capital,
social capital is a resource in social networks, which can be mobilized
and utilized by individuals for their own ends. Bourdieu’s concept of
social capital is connected with class position and social status. His theory
assumes that the more social networks, the more social capital one has
and the more social returns one gets. Individuals depend on their own
social networks to achieve their social and economic goals. Different
from Bourdieu, Robert Putnam defines social capital as the level of civic
engagement.25 Putnam’s concept includes three components： norms of
reciprocity, social networks and voluntary associations, and generalized
23 Bourdieu, Pierre, “The Forms of Capital,” in A. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown & A.
Stuart Wells (Eds.) Education: Culture, Economy and Society (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997), p.51. 24 Ibid. 25 Robert Putnam, “The prosperous community: social capital and public life,”
American Prospect, vol. 13, (1993): pp. 35 - 42; Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The
collapse and Revival of American Community, (New York: Simon & Schuster,
2000).
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trust. Putnam's idea of social capital deals with collective values and
societal integration at a community level. Putnam explains that members
of associations are much more likely than nonmembers to participate in
politics and civic activities, to spend time with neighbors, and to express
social concerns.
The notion of social capital raises the question about the social life
of China’s middle class. How do the middle-class individuals and
families socialize？ What social activities are they engaged in？ What
type of civic life do they have？ And more importantly, will civil society
emerge within the class？ This research reveals that the social issues the
middle class is concerned about are the ones immediately related to their
lives rather than the ones outside their own narrow world. As the majority
of middle class individuals are business professionals and office workers,
their social concerns are bound closely to their jobs and salaries. They
also show a strong inclination for more individual or self-enrichment
activities, such as travel, job training and education, sports, and cultural
activities, than community-oriented or associational social activities.
Their social activities represent the newly acquired social status and
lifestyles of the middle class. It is also noted in the research that religious
and charitable activities are the least favorite social activities of the
middle class. Only a small number of the middle class has participated in
political activities (See Table 10).
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Table 10. Social Activities and Interests
Social activities Percent
Community- or
group-oriented
social
Activities
Political activities and Discussions 12
Activities by labor unions, professional
associations 16
Neighborhood and community activities 6
Charitable activity 1
Activities of Religious groups 1
Self-enrichment
activities
Sports activities 12
Cultural activities 13
Continuing education and training 20
Travel 20
Total (Number of respondents： 216) 100
The Original Question： “Aside from your work and your family, what
are the activities that interest you most, that you spend your free time
on？”
Civic sociability shows how the middle class is drawn into civic
associations and communal affairs. This research shows that there is a
lack of community and associational life among the middle class.
Associational life organized by professional associations is limited.
Middle-class citizens rarely join any professional associations or
societies. This is especially true for small business owners, entrepreneurs,
and foreign business employees since most of them do not live in a
residential community provided by the working unit. University
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26
professors, government cadres, and state-owned enterprise employees
have more opportunities to participate in social recreational activities
organized by their working units. For the majority of the Chinese middle
class, socializing takes place at homes and public places, such as
restaurants, tea houses, and karaoke bars. Social connectedness involves
informal settings. The purpose of socializing is to strengthen and renew
friendships. Popular and common social activities include classmate
reunions, co-workers dinner gatherings, and social activities organized by
working places. Evidently, the middle class places its career and
professional life at the center of its social life. The working place plays an
important role in the social life of the middle class, with its social capital
and social network developed around workplace. Outside the workplace
and professional life, the middle class maintains a closely-knit circle of
friends from their education and known at work.
During the Mao era and post-Mao era, Chinese lives were organized
around the danwei system, state-owned and organized workplace units.26
However, as work unit-funded “welfare housing” is replaced by private
housing, urban living space has become stratified into upscale “garden,”
mid-range neighborhoods, and low-income “salary communities.” 27
Zhang Li argues that class becomes “spatialized” as individual’s social
positions and status are increasingly correlated with where they live. She
26 A detailed description of the evolving nature of danwei can be found in Xiaobo Lu
and Elizabeth Perry (eds.), Danwei: The Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical
and Comparative Perspective, (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997). 27 Li Zhang, In Search of Paradise: Middle-Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis,
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010).
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27
also finds that families spend more time in their individual households
and interact less in public areas.
On the contrary, to many middle-class families, socializing with
friends who do not live in the same neighborhood appears to be a popular
pattern, a trend that may reflect the strong workplace-based and
education-based social connections. It is common for middle-class
citizens to establish a wide social network with their classmates and
co-workers from their education and employment. The life of
middle-class households centers on the single child. Their friends in the
community are made largely through their child’s activities, education
and schooling.
The dichotomy between self-interest and civic interests indicates the
motivation of self-interest or public good. Interest in public issues and
devotion to public goods are the key signs of civic participation and
engagement. Citizens in a civic community regard the public sphere as a
more important aspect than pursuing personal good. The core meaning of
civic virtue closely relates to a recognition and pursuit of the public good
at the expense of all purely individual and private goals. The research
shows that China’s newly emerged middle-income individuals, however,
are more interested in seeking ways of enriching their personal lives
rather than the public good. Their life style requires them to be more
concerned with their living conditions, qualities, and personal well-being.
Their economic interests precede its political interests. They have not
shown a strong predisposition to be the driving force to lead political and
social changes.
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Tastes, Symbols and Life Styles: Consumer Culture and Cultured Consumers
Sociologists have argued that consumption practices and choices can
be associated with social and economic status. In his seminal book The
Theory of the Leisure Class： An Economic Study of Institutions, the
Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen first
introduced the concept of conspicuous consumption.28 Veblen defined
conspicuous consumption as the way of spending money on consumption
in order to display their wealth to other members of society.29 He argued
that people emulate the more respected members of their group in order
to gain more status. People pursue and assert their social status through
conspicuous consumption. Contemporary sociologist Pierre Bourdieu
argued that all taste is acquired and taste is based on social class. He
explained that “taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier. Cultural
subjects, classified by their classifications, distinguish themselves by the
distinctions they make, between the beautiful and the ugly, the
distinguished and the vulgar, in which their position in the objective
classifications is expressed or betrayed.”30 He presented taste as an
individual and collective resource used to mark social distinctions. In
Western society “good taste” is the symbol appropriated by economic and
28 Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of
Institutions. (1994) [1899]. New York: Penguin Books. 29 Andrew B. Trigg, “Veblen, Bourdieu, and Conspicuous Consumption,” Journal of
Economic Issues, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 99-115. 30 Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste.
(Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1984).
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29
social status and educational levels. In Paul Fussell’s book on class, he
described how social class status could be revealed by symbols, styles,
and intellectual proclivities.31 Fussell pointed out that class in America is
not decided exclusively upon finances; it is also a matter of taste, what
one does with one's recreational time, what one reads, what schools one
has attended and how well one speaks. American sociologist C. Wright
Mills used the term “white collar” to refer to the new office workers as
the new middle class in his seminal work The American Middle Classes.32
Mills observed the shift in the American labor force and argued that
office workers, “white collar” people on salary, was the new middle class
of the mid-twentieth century. He explains that the white-collar middle
class has new “styles of life,” which form the middlebrow culture in
American society. The term “white collar” was adopted by Chinese
scholars and citizens in the late 1980s to refer to Chinese office workers
for foreign companies, who generally have higher English proficiency
and educational levels and can afford and pursue a “petit bourgeoisie”
lifestyle (xiaozi).33
31 Paul Fussell, Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1992). 32 C. Wright Mills. White Collar: The American Middle Classes (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1951). Mills’ book was translated into Chinese and published in
China by Zhejiang People’s Press in 1987 and by Nanjing University Press in 2006. 33 Xu Rong, “Taste: Symbolic Lifestyle of the Middle Class,” in Zhou Xiaohong, ed.,
Survey of the Chinese Middle Class (page 261-262), Social Sciences Academic
Press, Beijing, China. 2005.
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Lifestyle is the core of self-identity.34 A small number of studies
about Chinese consumer behaviors have noted that professional
middle-class status and identity are increasingly shaped around a new set
of collective interests relating to access to resources and modes of
consumption.35 Therefore, it is critical to understand the relationship
between consumption and the formation of the middle-class identity.
Consumption practices show how consumers purchase products to show
their tastes and lifestyles. Consumption is often viewed as means to assert
self-identity and communication of social status.36
This research is concerned how the middle class, as urban
consumers, has developed a class awareness associated with its tastes and
lifestyles and how consumption is used to assert the social status of the
middle class. It looks into urban middle-class behaviors and tastes in
book reading, TV viewing, and house furnishing. Findings of the research
suggest that with its increasing purchasing power, the middle class is
reshaping China’s urban consumer and popular culture. It has already
exerted influence on books, media, entertainment and other cultural
activities. One example is the high interest shown by the middle class in
34 Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern
Age, (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991). 35 Luigi Tomba, “Creating an Urban Middle Class: Social Engineering in Beijing,” The
China Journal, 51, January, 2004,1-26; Davis, Deborah (2005), “Urban Consumer
Culture,” The China Quarterly, 183, September, 692-709; Davis, Deborah (2000),
Introduction, in: Deborah Davis (ed.), The Consumer Revolution in Urban China,
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1-22. 36 Sharon Zukin and Jennifer Smith Maguire, “Consumers and Consumption,” in:
Annual Review of Sociology, 30 (2004), 173-197.
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31
reading books about individual development and career management (See
Table 11), evidenced by the fact that about 32 percent of the respondents
said they frequently read books on self-help and potential development.
The middle class seeks new ways of thinking and living, showing a
strong desire to develop their potentials and capabilities, which are often
neglected by their parents’ generations. They are becoming more
pragmatic in terms of learning and self-cultivation. The second most
popular books are management books and tips on career and professional
development. Middle-class business professionals often agree that they
have to learn new business practices in order to survive and succeed in
the business world as the pressure from work has intensified. These
self-help books also include books on Confucius teachings and other
ancient thoughts, especially the ones offering practical advice for work
and life. One such bestseller is Yu Dan’s book on Confucianism.37 Over
ten million copies of the book were sold throughout China. The success
of Yu’s book is attributed to the simple lessons she offered to help people
achieve a balanced life in the society with rapid economic development
and to enable people to feel they are proud of being Chinese and their
Chinese heritage.
37 Yu Dan, a professor of mass media at Beijing Normal University, gained her fame
from a series of lectures on Confucianism she presented on CCTV's “Lecture
Room.” Her book became a bestseller in China. The new English edition of her book
Confucius from the Heart: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World was published by
Macmillan in 2009.
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Table 11. Most Frequently Read Books by Genres
Genres of Books Frequency Percentage
Self-help, potential development and learning 68 31.5
Management and career development 49 22.7
Investment social issues and concerns 11 5.1
History and cultural issues, concerns and
discussions (including books on culture) 23 10.6
Popular fiction (including online fiction) 26 12.0
Classics (Chinese and foreign classic novels) 22 10.2
Travel and Leisure books 9 4.2
Others (technology, biography, travel, leisure,
etc.) 8 3.7
Total 216 100.0
In addition, historical fiction is popular among middle-class readers.
Different from traditional historic books, the new genre of historical
fiction portrays biographic accounts and anecdotes of historical figures,
especially monarchs of various dynasties.38 The increasing popularity of
popular historical fiction can be attributed to an imagined nostalgia of
historical culture among Chinese middle class.39
38 Er Yuehe published a series of history fictions on Qing emperors, such as Kangxi,
Qianlong, and Yongzheng. These books were adapted to popular TV dramas about
these emperors. 39 Dai Jinhua, “Imagined Nostalgia,” Boundary 2, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 143-161.
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The research also shows that the middle class is interested in
entertainment programs on TV besides news programs (See Table 12).
Table 12. Most Frequently Viewed TV Programs
Programs Frequency Percent
News Reports 106 49.1
Sports 20 9.3
Entertainment Programs 52 24.1
TV Dramas 21 9.7
Documentaries 10 4.6
Others 7 3.2
Total 216 100.0
What is noted in the research is that an interdependent relationship
between the entertainment industry and the middle class popular culture
has been formed. On one hand, the publishing industry is driven by the
need of the middle class, which becomes the primary pool of readership.
On the other hand, the reading interests, habits, and tastes of the middle
class are shaped and fed by the publishing industry, but at the same time,
the middle class’s reading habits drive the publishing industry.
The tastes and desire for entertainment of the middle class have
reshaped media and entertainment industry. As the Chinese entertainment
industry has shifted from a pure social and political propaganda organ of
the state to a market-oriented business entity, the content of the media
targets at the middle class in order to suit its lifestyles and convey
materialistic and commercial values, a trend that represents the newly
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34
formed pragmatic and realistic culture of the middle class. Urban lifestyle
newspapers and publications, such as Modern Weekly, are emerging to
appeal to well-to-do urban residents and their tastes.
The entertainment industry is eager to accommodate the tastes of the
new middle class as cultural consumers. TV shows and films have
portrayed and sold the image and lifestyles of the middle class as well as
the leisure and popular culture of the middle class. Some recent popular
films and TV dramas on the middle class lifestyle have generated heated
discussions and keen interests among middle class individuals and
households. The film Go Lala Go (Du Lala Shengzhi ji), adapted from a
bestselling book, tells a story about how an ordinary white-collar office
staff gains her success through her hard work in the corporate world. This
film portrays a successful image of white-collar business professionals
and inspires young Chinese to get a good job and climb up the corporate
ladder. Ironically, another highly popular TV series Dwelling Narrowness
(woju) reveals the less glamorous aspect of life of the Chinese middle
class in big cities. It offers a more somber look at the social struggles and
concerns about urban housing and the rising property price of two sisters
in Shanghai. The term “house slaves” (fangnu) has become a popular
term to describe the middle-class families who are paying a high
mortgage and eating inexpensive lunch boxes. Such an image of “house
slaves” created by the entertainment industry is widely accepted by the
society. In an online survey conducted by the Chinese internet portal
Sina.com, about 59 percent of 46,000 voters agreed with the statement
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that the drama reflects the public’s sentiment on “house slaves.” 40
Seventy-four percent of the viewers agree the drama reflects the reality
accurately and another 23 percent feel the reality is disheartening. Such
widely accepted images created by media and entertainment industry
demonstrate how media have acted as agents of socialization in class
identity acquisition of the newly emerged middle class.
Such dilemma and reality the middle class faces is concurred by
research studies. According to the report from the China Index Academy,
a domestic real estate research institute, as of 2009, the average house
price in Beijing has reached 16,057 yuan per square meter, a 54
percent increase from the average price of 10,403 yuan in January 2009.
In Shanghai, the average residential price for October 2009 was 16,954
yuan per square meter, up 22 percent since January 2009.41 The Green
Report of the Housing Market in China published by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences pointed out that despite new measures by the
Chinese government to emphasize construction of low-cost houses, low
and middle-income families are “not well-covered” by the current
residence-guarantee system.42
The image of the middle class portrayed by the entertainment
industry has also shaped the tastes and the subjective identity of the
40 Data retrieved from http://survey.ent.sina.com.cn/result/39451.html on July 20,
2010. 41 Data available at http://fdc.soufun.com/Report/CIAReport.aspx. 42 China Social Science Academy, Annual Report on Development of Housing Market
in China, 2009, Beijing: China Social Science Documents Press.
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middle class. The bourgeois lifestyle with leisure, luxury living, home
ownership and consumerist culture is espoused by the middle class.
As the economic and social status of China’s middle class is not
inherited, conspicuous consumption has become an important means of
asserting status. China’s middle-class consumers often view the purchase
of brand-name commodities as a manifestation of their economic and
social status. Many middle-class consumers view that tastes are related to
their social and monetary status and acquired by their education and
wealth. To them, they are perceived and judged on their tastes through
their consumer behaviors and materialistic ownership. Middle-class
consumers often confuse the cultural activities with social activities and
consumerist activities, such as shopping, travel, dining, and clothing.
They tend to purchase things that symbolize their newly acquired
middle-class lifestyle and emphasize their distinctive tastes. A large
number of these newly rich consumers use their material affluence to
impress their friends, family and colleagues as well as to distinguish
themselves from lower income groups.
However, they are highly conscious about the social and cultural
image of “being cultured” and the economic status of “being
conspicuously rich.” The perceived image of the nouveau riche is often
portrayed and referred as baofa hu (“explosively rich”), people who have
gained their financial successes overnight, a denigrating connotation of
being uncultured and without cultural worth. To the middle class, “being
cultured” often means ownership of certain Western commodities
because of the perceived prestige and modernity often attached to such
products. They prefer to become “cultured” consumers. For middle-class
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consumers, the West represents being modern and being tasteful. China’s
middle-class consumers follow the cultural tastes and styles of the West
and China’s upper class. They are not only consumers of western
products but also consumers of Western culture and lifestyles. Their
consumption behaviors manifest their pursuit of xiaozi (petite
bourgeoisie) lifestyle. During intensive interviews with Chinese middle
class consumers for this research, they often describe xiaozi lifestyle as
attending Western classical concerts and Broadway shows, listening to
Western music, watching foreign films, drinking coffee, and consuming
foreign products. It is also noted that many middle-class individuals
embrace and appreciate Western high culture, such as opera, art, and
classical music, as they swarm to exhibitions of French Impressionists,
Italian Renaissance, and American Art in China.43 The inclination for
materialistic possession and cultural consumption of the middle class
confers their social status and cultural tastes.
China’s white-collar middle class has various means of asserting its
social and economic status as well as their cultural tastes. Home
43 The first large-scale exhibition of French Impressionist paintings was held in
Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in 2004. The exhibition included 51
representative works from Musée d'Orsay by 14 classical impressionist painters,
including famous pieces by Edouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Edgar
Degas. This is the highest-level exhibition of its kind ever held in China to reveal the
beginning and development of Impressionist in France; Italian Renaissance Art
Exhibition was held at the Millennium World Art Museum in Beijing in 2006.
Works of Renaissance masters, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Titian,
was on display at the art exhibition; Art in America: Three Hundred Years of
Innovation, the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of American art was held
in Beijing and Shanghai in 2007.
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ownership is one of the essential symbols and means of asserting their
social and economic status. In this research, 78 percent of the respondents
own their homes as their annual income has increased and urban living
standards have improved. The neighborhoods surveyed in this research
exemplify three types of middle-class neighborhoods of the time： an
apartment house community, an apartment residential community built by
the danwei, and a complex with both high-rise and low-rise apartments,
condominiums, and townhouses. The size of the apartment ranges from
60 to 150 square meters of usable space. A typical apartment has two or
three bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, one or two
bathrooms, and one or two enclosed balconies.
The most fundamental change I observed during the interview is the
interior design and furnishing of the middle-class families. Twenty years
ago, most of Chinese living space was provided by the danwei and thrifty
in size, decoration, and comfort. The new privately-owned apartments are
spacious, bright, and Western in design. They are sold as concrete shells.
Homeowners need to shop and purchase every single thing to make their
new apartment a home. The remodeling and decorating cost is usually
about ten to twenty percent of the purchasing price of the apartment. The
middle-class families emphasize the comfort and pleasure of their home
by incorporating new trendy designs from the West. The modern
European furniture design fits the room layout and middle-class family
budgets and the middle-class family lifestyles and visions. Families
usually borrow the design ideas of prototypes and models when designing
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39
their new apartment.44 A mixture of traditional and modern elements can
be found within individual households. Though the middle-class
households intend to manifest pleasure, freedom, individuality, and
choice through their home-owning experience, ironically, the newly
renovated homes of the middle class represent similar tastes and similar
designs, and convergent interests.
The home-centered consumption of the middle class reflects the
state discourse on the improving people’s living standard in the 10th
Five-Year Plan. The Plan was intended to expand domestic demand and
boost domestic consumption, especially in such sectors as tourism, higher
education, cars, housing, and financial services. Such policy on
accelerating domestic consumption continued during the recent global
financial crisis as China’s export declined sharply. Stimulating domestic
consumption became the focal point of the state’s economic recovery
strategy to move from export-led economy to consumption-led
economy.45 Such state-promoted and media-espoused consumption has
facilitated and accelerated the formation of the consumer culture of the
middle class. Middle class’ consumption behaviors reflect their collective
identity, convergent interests, and statement about their lifestyles and
preferences, as Bourdieu argued that household goods, the behavior
44 Companies such as Ikea are intended to sell middle-class lifestyles and designs
rather than just products to consumers. 45 China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao stated that China would emphasize the domestic
demand, particularly consumer demand, as the driving force of economic growth in
his government work report at the opening of the second session of the 11th National
People's Congress (NPC) on March 5th, 2009 (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/
2009-03 /05/content_10945808.htm).
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40
associated with their use, and the type and even location of residence can
all be indicators of class status.46
Conclusions
As the beneficiary of the economic reform, the middle class is an
economically and socially advanced group in China’s urban areas. With
their financial wellbeing, middle class households are able to acquire new
lifestyles. As the majority of middle class individuals, primarily business
professionals and office workers, pursue occupations conventionally
classified as middle-class professions, they display some characteristics in
common.
First, they place their career and professional life at the center of
their social life. They ordinarily expect to have a long-term employment
and regard their working relationship as one of the top priorities as their
salary and income are extremely important for the pursuit of their social
status and lifestyles. The middle class households generally have two
incomes. In order to keep the steady income, its current financial
wellbeing and its wealth acquired through economic reforms, the middle
class is extremely concerned about social and political stability, social
order, and economic growth of the nation. They are dependent on the
current economic system. With the current political and economic
climate, they want to strengthen their economic and social advantages
and consolidate their capital gains rather than take a political risk to
jeopardize their economic benefits and privileges. Therefore, political
46 Bourdieu, 1984.
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41
participation and activism is not the overriding concern of the middle
class.
However, China’s newly emerged middle class displays a high level
of stress in its social and economic life. Middle-class households and
individuals are burdened with worries and concerns about various social
and economic issues. The TV image of fangnu (house slaves) illustrates
how the middle class has high mortgage payments for housing. This is
only one aspect of the stressed middle class. They are also “slaves” for
cars, social security, and health care, etc. They are under the new “three
mountains”—costs of housing, healthcare, and children’s education. They
are preoccupied with their children’s education. They do not want that
their children to “lose at the starting line.” In addition, education is
regarded as a means of social mobility and is being sought for the prestige
it confers. This research reveals that that middle-class families spend
more efforts and money on their children’s education than rural and
low-income families. Education, regarded as a part of social capital, is
sought to assert the middle class status. Urban middle-class households
send their children to extracurricular programs to learn English, piano,
violin, painting, calligraphy, and other subjects. Piano becomes the
quintessential symbol of the cultural life of middle-class families in China
and is ranked the top musical instrument, followed by violin and electric
keyboard, when Chinese middle class parents choose for their child to
learn.47 To parents, the primary reason of the packed extracurricular
program is to raise the child’s future competitiveness and give the child 47 Richard C. Kraus. Piano and Politics in China: Middle Class Ambitions and the
Struggle over Western Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Desperately Seeking Status: Political, Social and Cultural Attributes of China’s Rising Middle Class
【當代中國研究】Modern China Studies Vol. 20, No. 1, 2013
42
more advantages in all aspects. It is evident that the middle class hopes to
acquire and transfer cultural capital through their children’s education.48
Parents provide their children with cultural capital by transmitting the
attitudes and knowledge needed to succeed in the current educational
system. Chinese middle-class families are concerned about their
children’s success in education and future career. To the middle class
families, it is education that has helped them achieve their economic and
professional success. For many Chinese families, through acquiring
educational capital and then a middle-class job, they rose to middle-class
status.
China’s middle class is a pragmatic class. They are not necessarily
self-centered, but the social issues they are concerned with are the ones
immediately related to their lives rather than the ones outside their own
narrow world. Their individual interests in career and self-enrichment
activities often take precedence over the common good, even though they
are highly aware of political and public affairs. If their immediate
interests and rights, such as homeownership and other private properties,
are jeopardized, they will stand up to protect their rights.49 Their interests
in their own wellbeing represent a strong utilitarian and pragmatic culture
of the middle class. The strong inclination for a materialistic lifestyle
among the middle class diverts its priorities away from participation in
48 Bourdieu defines the cultural capital as the forms of knowledge, skills, and
education, which give families or individuals a higher status in society. He points out
that cultural capital is initially passed down by the family. In Pierre Boudieu, “The
Forms of Capital,” 1997. 49 Yongshun Cai, “China’s Moderate Middle Class,” Asian Survey, Sept/Oct 2005,
Vol. 45, No. 5, 777-799.
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【當代中國研究】Modern China Studies Vol. 20, No. 1, 2013
43
political life. Therefore, it tends to be moderate and cooperative in
conciliating political differences with the state. They often work overtime
and have less time to socialize. They are a disengaged class from social
and community life. A vibrant civic life has not been formed and fostered
among China’s middle class.
Finally, China’s middle class exhibits struggles in class identity. The
subjective identity of the middle class has not been formed and fostered
collectively yet due to the nascent nature of this new social stratum. The
middle class struggles about its identity of being the middle class and
what constitutes the middle-class status. However, the middle class is
conscious of its socio-economic position. Bourdieu argues that the
status-conscious character of the middle class is its habitus, which is a
system of dispositions or preferences that generates a system of
distinctive lifestyles. 50 Status consciousness of the middle class
determines its dispositions, consumption, tastes and lifestyles. Members
of China’s middle class tend to choose different ways and means to assert
their newly acquired social and economic status. Some choose economic
status to reflect their wealth and distinction of tastes and lifestyles. Some
opt for their educational and cultural capital over economic capital. Some
tend to use their political and social connections to strengthen their status.
Though the middle class is not united by its class habitus or status
consciousness, economic capital tends to dominate. The middle class
asserts its status by the conspicuous spending such as housing, home
50 Bourdieu 1984: 176.
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【當代中國研究】Modern China Studies Vol. 20, No. 1, 2013
44
furnishing, and travel. Regardless which means they choose, members of
the middle class participate in the “game of distinction.”51
It is among stress, struggle and pragmatism, the contemporary
middle class is in pursuit of its social status and distinction from upper
class and lower class.
51 Bourdieu 1984: 57.
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