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China's emerging middle class: a changing social and political order
INT7International/SocietyChina's emerging middle class: a changing social and political orderBy Ren KeBeijing, Oct 6 Xinhua Eric Wang walks into a restaurant near his office in Beijing's central business district. Wearing an immaculately pressed dark blue suit with a gold-coloured tie, he picks up a cup of cappuccino and sips."It's really a sharp contrast between my life and that of my parents," says Wang. A certified public accountant CPA in an international accounting firm, he enjoys a life of great vicissitudes.Born into a rural family in east China's Zhejiang province, Wang every summer visits his village to help his parents who earn a living by farming and fishing in the Taihu Lake.Now 29, he earns more than 200,000 yuan $29,000 a year by working for companies which look to be listed on the stock exchange.In major metropolian cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, among others, Wang and his ilk are making up a group that has emerged in China after the country's economic makeover began three decades ago.Thirty years ago, Wang's parents lived in a people's commune in which everything was collectively owned by the member peasants. Workers in factories enjoyed cradle-to-grave welfare.Another group, the intellectuals, including teachers in colleges and performing artistes, were tied in different organizations.Situations changed as China adopted a policy of opening up to the outside world in 1978, when national leader Deng Xiaoping and his supporters decided to end the class struggle and turn to economic development.Zhang Wanli, deputy researcher with the Sociology Institute of the China Academy of Social Sciences CASS, notes that before 1978 China had three classes - peasants, workers, and intellectuals. Private enterprise was strictly prohibited. A peasant who sold eggs in rural free market would be seen as "the tail of capitalism" that had to be cut off.Restrictions were gradually lifted from 1978. People now could run private enterprises and employ workers.Then, foreign capital came. Thanks to those changes, commercial, financial and services sectors grew rapidly. New jobs, white-collar managers in foreign and domestic enterprises, owners of small and medium enterprises came into existence. So did professionals, like lawyers and accountants.Freed from the restraints of the old system, they gained in mobility that allowed them to acquire economic interests, like entrepreneurship and knowledge, in the budding markets.However, the new class has stirred up controversies. Many people believe "middle class" is a lifestyle. They think a middle class family should own at least one apartment and one car, have a golf club membership, and often travel overseas. In other words, it is a lifestyle of the rich."I have no car, and I live in an apartment built as work unit accommodation from the CASS," says Zhang."But when I was interviewing a millionaire entrepreneur at one time, he said I definitely belong to the middle class." Zhang says social status and profession, rather than income, play more important roles in defining social classes.In 2001, the CASS conducted a nationwide survey, which found the middle class in terms of profession, including people with new jobs and in non-public sectors, and those government officials and intellectuals in the middle levels, accounted for 20 percent of the total population.In that survey, intellectuals, executives, officials of vice-ministerial level and above, billionaire private business owners were defined as the upper class, while industrial workers, business people, and farmers and jobless people were placed in the lower classes.Although the middle class kept increasing in the past seven years, Zhang says its proportion to the total population remains approximately the same as more rural people come to the cities to seek work swelling the number in the lower stratum. Considering that rural population account almost 64 percent, it is really a large number.In 2006, the state-run Outlook Weekly reported the newly emerging strata, including non-public sectors and professional people, accounted for 11.5 percent of the population and contributed almost one third of the total taxes. They also held more than half of the total technical patent rights."If the middle class can be quantified by money, I belong to it," says Eric Wang, "but it makes no sense - I'm only a high-paid worker."China's middle class is trying to find a place in the established political system. The recent years have witnessed its rise as a politically significant section.Zhang points out that more private entrepreneurs and professionals became delegates to the National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2007. Considering the increasing economic and social influence of the new social stratum, the Party has made efforts to include them in the political mechanism.--Xinhuadkg835 Words06100848
2008-10-06 00:00:00
Why Sarah Palin is different from other female world leaders
Washington, Sept 7 ANI: The Republican nominee for vice president, Sarah Palin, is very different from other female leaders around the world, at least in one respect - her political career does not follow that of a male relative.That's the conclusion of an expert on women in global politics. Many female leaders around the world had a family connection to a politically powerful male, said Pamela Paxton, associate professor of sociology and political science at Ohio State University."In many countries with traditional cultures, women are easily seen as 'stand-ins' for their father or husband," said Paxton, who is co-author of the book "Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective" with Melanie Hughes, a former Ohio State doctoral student now at the University of Pittsburgh. Often, women leaders achieve power when their male relative dies, is martyred, or otherwise is forced to leave office, she added."People have generally accepted these female leaders because it was assumed they had the same views and supported the same policies as their father or husband," Hughes said.While the United States is "somewhat traditional" in its culture compared to other countries, Paxton said she was surprised that the first female who was a strong contender for president in the United States followed the worldwide model by having a husband who was in politics first.Paxton said: "Hillary Clinton followed a typical model by following her husband, Bill Clinton. I had expected that the United States would be less traditional, and have a first woman contender who arrived in politics independently."Sarah Palin is certainly unusual in a worldwide context in that her political path has been hers alone."In the book, Paxton and Hughes say the United States ranks "middle of the pack" compared to most other countries in terms of political equality for women. ANI
2008-09-07 00:01:07
13pc of older Americans suffer maltreatment
Washington, Aug 20 ANI: Nearly 13 pct of the older Americans are mistreated, either verbally or financially, a new study from University of Chicago has revealed. During the study a team led by Edward Laumann, the George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology at the University of Chicago found that 9 percent of adults reported verbal mistreatment, 3.5 percent reported financial mistreatment and 0.2 percent reported physical mistreatment. Physical impairment apparently played a key role in mistreatment. "The population of the country is aging, and people now live with chronic diseases longer. So it's important to understand, from a health perspective, how people are being treated as they age," said Laumann. "Older people with any physical vulnerability are about 13 percent more likely than those without one to report verbal mistreatment but are not more likely to report financial mistreatment," said co-author Linda Waite, the Lucy Flower Professor in Sociology at the University.The study showed that adults in their late 50s and 60s were more likely to report verbal or financial mistreatment than those who are older."Perhaps the respondents are including fairly routine arguments, perhaps about money, with their spouse, sibling or child in their reports or perhaps older adults are more reticent to report negative behaviour," said Laumann.Females were about twice as likely to report verbal mistreatment, but no higher level of financial mistreatment, than men.Latinos were about half as likely as whites to report verbal mistreatment and 78 percent less likely to report financial mistreatment; and blacks were 77 percent more likely to report financial mistreatment than whites.In addition, 26 percent identified their spouse or romantic partner as being responsible, 15 percent said their children mistreated them verbally, while the remainder said that a friend, neighbour, co-worker or boss was responsible. ANI
2008-08-20 09:00:00