Socialist development and rural inequality: The Chinese countryside in the 1970s

Abstract

The authors investigate the nature and extent of economic inequalities in rural China during 1970–1976. Using a political economy approach, they analyse rural distribution within a matrix of political superstructure, productive forces and social relations of production. They conclude that the egalitarian nature of rural differentials in the early 1970s—relative to pre‐revolutionary China and many other Third World countries—stems from both the basic socialist elements of the Chinese political economy and from the leftist policies of the Party leadership during this period. The growth‐oriented policies of the post‐Mao leadership, on the other hand, will lead to a considerable increase in rural inequalities.