Reza Hasmath and Jennifer Hsu, eds. China in an Era of Transition. Understanding Contemporary State and Society Actors: New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, 234p. $90 hardback

摘要

Thirty years of economic reforms have led to profound changes in China's social structures and state-society interactions. Building on various sources of rich empirical data this edited volume takes stock of recent transformations focusing on particular groups within society and their respective relations to political authorities. Jennifer Hubbert examines the views expressed by retired intellectuals in Kunming. Their narratives, combining the Maoist discourse of suffering with a more traditional one claiming scholarly authority, show strong ambivalence toward the party-state and the social results of economic reforms. Women workers' relationship to the state are Carrie Liu Currier's topic. Using data from her survey of female workers in Beijing she demonstrates the gendered effects of labor reforms over the last three decades. While some women, especially in the middle age cohort, have benefited from new opportunities, many have been marginalized by being pushed out of formal employment.