State, Street, Store: The Development of the Chinese Middle Class

Abstract

This dissertation considers the emergence of the Chinese middle class as a sociological phenomenon. Though much discussed in the media, both in China and abroad, the Chinese middle class has received limited attention in sociological literature, owing partly to inherent difficulties in separating out subjective, popular understandings of middleclassness from what are considered to be more objective empirical measures. This dissertation argues that such distinctions are inherently flawed because of the way popular and subjective narratives of class inform identity and, in turn, shape social action, social structure, and social reality. Relying on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at a number of sites in China across numerous years, this dissertation utilizes a Weberian verstehen approach to analysis in an attempt to articulate a realistic model of identity formation and class emergence that interrogates and holistically integrates subjective influences like State discourse and popular understanding with empirical evidence. As such, special attention is paid to the discursive legacies of Marxism and the confusing – and empirically relevant – contradictions these engender in a resurgent China deeply committed to ideals of State development and Western-looking consumerism.