Service Encounters: Class, Gender, and the Market for Social Distinction in Urban China

摘要

The broad social, political, and economic consequences of China's transition from a planned socialist to a free market economy constitute a significant area of sociological research. Service Encounters, which studies China's increasing social stratification from a cultural perspective, is a major contribution to this literature. This work analyses China's economic transformation from the counters of three distinct market settings: Sunshine, a luxury department store borne of China's 1978 economic reforms; Harbin No. X, a formerly government-run department store and remnant of China's socialist roots; and the Underground, a low-end clothing bazaar.