Snakes and ladders: differential patterns of post-reform social mobility in Siping, north-east China. Issue 3 (2nd September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Dong; Hamnett, Chris
• Is Part Of: Area development and policy. Volume 3:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 309
• Page End: 329
• Publication Date: 2018-09-02
• Subjects: China -- social mobility -- cohorts -- state-owned enterprises (SOEs) -- laid-off workers -- JEL; 中国 -- 社会流动 -- 群组 -- 国有企业 -- 下岗工人; China -- movilidad social -- cohortes -- empresas estatales -- trabajadores despedidos; Китай -- социальная мобильность -- когорты -- госпредприятия -- уволенные работники; Regional planning -- BRIC countries -- Periodicals; Economic development -- BRIC countries -- Periodicals; Rural-urban relations -- BRIC countries -- Periodicals; Human geography -- BRIC countries -- Periodicals; Regional planning -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Rural-urban relations -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; 338.90091724
• DOI: 10.1080/23792949.2017.1405733
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2379-2949

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This analysis of the relative winners and losers from economic and social change in post-reform China focuses on the small, fourth-tier city of Siping, north-east China. Following Louis Chauvel's work in France, the impact of economic transformation on different age cohorts is examined, and a 'lucky generation' is identified, made up notably of those born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s, who were educated and whose working lives coincided with the expansion of economic and social opportunities in the reform era. Its fortunes are contrasted with other age cohorts and with the groups formerly employed in north-eastern rust-belt states and collectively owned enterprises, rural dwellers and rural–urban migrants.