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The Middle Class and Political Change in China

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The Middle Class and Political Change in China Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Graduate Program in International Studies Dissertations Spring 2007 The iddM le Class and Political Change in China: Chinese Middle Class's Attitudinal and Behavioral Orientations Toward Democracy Chunlong Lu Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds Part of the Asian Studies Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Lu, Chunlong. "The iddM le Class and Political Change in China: Chinese Middle Class's Attitudinal and Behavioral Orientations Toward Democracy" (2007). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), dissertation, International Studies, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/hxw7-ca38 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds/70 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Program in International Studies at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MIDDLE CLASS AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN CHINA: CHINESE MIDDLE CLASS’S ATTITUDINAL AND BEHAVIORAL ORIENTATIONS TOWARD DEMOCRACY by Chunlong Lu B.A. July 1998, Renmin University of China, China M.A. July 2001, Renmin University of China, China A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY May 2007 Jia Chen (Director) ember) ae Chung (Member) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT THE MIDDLE CLASS AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN CHINA: CHINESE MIDDLE CLASS’S ATTITUDINAL AND BEHAVIORAL ORIENTATIONS TOWARD DEMOCRACY Chunlong Lu Old Dominion University, 2007 Director: Dr. Jie Chen Does the middle class in China think and act democratically and hence serve as the harbinger of democratic development in that country? Little empirical work has been done to systematically address this crucial question. The primary goals of this dissertation are to explore the level of attitudinal support for democracy among Chinese middle class individuals, examine their behavioral orientations toward politics, and provide a comprehensive assessment of the role of the Chinese middle class in the evolution of the Chinese political system. This dissertation argues that the middle class in China consists of the following four occupational groups: self-employed laborers, managers, professionals, and civil servants. Following this conceptualization, it discusses the relations between the Chinese party-state and the newly rising middle class, and makes distinctions between the subgroup of middle class individuals employed in the public sector and the subgroup employed in the private sector, and posits three hypotheses: (1) The private-sector middle class has strong democratic attitudes; on the other hand, the public-sector middle class has significantly weaker democratic attitudes; (2) The private-sector middle class individuals’ democratic orientation may lead to their negative evaluation of the current forms of mass political participation; in turn, this negative evaluation may cause the private-sector middle class individuals to engage in non-participatory action as a form of protest against the current system; and (3) The Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. public-sector middle class individuals’ undemocratic belief may lead to their positive evaluation of the current forms of mass political participation; in turn, this positive evaluation may cause the public-sector middle class individuals to engage in participatory action to express their support of the current system. The hypothesized causal relationships are tested via three representative public opinion surveys. The three hypotheses are strongly supported by the empirical evidence. This dissertation concludes that the private-sector middle class people are more likely to hold democratic values and act in ways that promote democracy in China, while the public- sector middle class people tend to hold negative attitudes toward democracy and act in an undemocratic fashion. Such findings are of theoretical and practical significance. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my dissertation chair, Dr. Jie Chen, and to other members of the dissertation committee, Dr. Kurt Taylor Gaubatz, Dr. Francis Adams, and Dr. Kae Chung, for their encouragement, support, guidance, and constructive criticism during my work leading to this dissertation. I am also grateful to Dr. Xiushi Yang, Dr. Qiu Jin, Dr. Regina Karp, Dr. Xiaojin Zhang, Bert Gainor, and Guy Clark for their invaluable comments on parts of the dissertation. I would especially like to thank Old Dominion University for their indispensable financial assistance during my graduate studies at the university. Without such generous financial support, this dissertation could not have been completed. Great appreciation is also extended to my friend Nick Wilson for his skillful editing and proofreading of the earlier drafts of my work. Finally, I wish to express my warmest appreciation to my wife, Min Xia, for providing me with the comfort and support during the several years of research and writing. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1 STRUCTURAL-LEVEL ANALYSIS: THE “MODERNIZATION” APPROACH AND THE “CONTEXTUAL” APPROACH......................................................... 2 INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL ANALYSIS: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE ROLE OF THE CHINESE MIDDLE CLASS IN DEMOCRATIC CHANGE............................9 SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY................................................. 17 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION......................................... 19 II. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO CONSTITUTE THE MIDDLE CLASS IN TODAY’S CHINA?..................................................................... 22 MEASUREMENT OF THE MIDDLE CLASS IN THE WESTERN LITERATURE................................................................23 THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG THE THREE MEASUREMENTS.............................................................................28 THE CHINESE PEOPLE’S CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS.............31 THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHINESE MIDDLE CLASS: WHICH APPROACH IS THE MOST V A LID ?.............39 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................57 III. THE BACKGROUND OF THE EMERGENCE OF THE CHINESE MIDDLE CLASS...........................................................................59 THE PRE-1949 CHINESE SOCIETY............................................. 62 MAOIST CHINA (1949-1978): DESTRATIFICATION AND THE ELIMINATION OF THE MIDDLE CLASS...............66 REFORM CHINA (1978-): DIFFERENTIATION AND THE RISE OF THE NEW MIDDLE CLASS.......................79 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE STATE AND THE MIDDLE CLASS........................................................................96 CONCLUSION...................................................................................109 IV. DOES CHINA’S MIDDLE CLASS SUPPORT DEMOCRACY?..........114 WHY POLITICAL ATTITUDES MATTER?.............................. 115 THEORETICAL DISCUSSION AND HYPOTHESES..............117 DEPENDENT VARIABLE: DEMOCRATIC VALUES............136 SUPPORT FOR COMPETITIVE ELECTION............................. 137 SUPPORT FOR EQUAL PROTECTION FOR ALL PEOPLE.....................................................................................141 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter Page SUPPORT FOR SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE’S W ILL.............................................................................. 146 CONCLUSION...................................................................................149 V. DOES CHINA’S MIDDLE CLASS ACT IN WAYS THAT PROMOTE DEMOCRACY?...........................................................153 THORETICAL DISCUSSION.........................................................153 HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT.................................................167 CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF THE TWO SUB-GROUPS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS...................................174 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN THE URBAN SELF- GOVERNMENT SYSTEM.............................................................. 182 CONCLUSION.................................................................................. 202 VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS.................................................................. 206 SUMMARY OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS....................................206 THE ROLE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS IN CHINA’S DEMOCRATIZATION.................................................................... 211 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS 215 FINAL WORDS................................................................................ 221 APPENDICES...........................................................................................................................222 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................
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