Social Stratification Under State Socialism: Summary and Assessment

Abstract

It is probably too soon to revisit state socialism and the possibilities that were never allowed to mature. Nonetheless, in time there will be a revisionist history that, while not denying communist horrors, will recognize socialism's potentialities. Burawoy (2001, p. 1118) We have taken the reader on a journey of examining the state and life chances in the history of the People's Republic of China. Focusing on a sample of urban residents, we followed their educational experiences, their entries into the labor force, their life experiences in career promotion, and job shift across organizations, and the economic benefits associated with these life chances. We “observed,” so to speak, dramatic changes in their life chances over the historical periods and over the stages of their life course. We have organized our observations, analyses, and discussions around two major themes: first, the impacts of state socialist redistribution and stratification dynamics on individual life chances; second, changes and continuity in the stratification processes in China's economic transformation since the 1980s. How do these empirical findings inform us of the theoretical models of state socialist redistribution and social stratification? What lessons can we draw from the Chinese experience to understand institutional transformation of state socialism? In this chapter, we take stock by summarizing the main findings related to the first theme – redistribution and stratification dynamics under state socialism in China.