Labor institutions, state power, and earnings inequality in reforming urban China
by Zhang Zhanxin
THESIS
2000
Ph.D. Social Science
xi, 176 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm
Abstract
Market transition debate has enriched the literature on the changing order of social stratification in post-socialist societies. To contribute to this debate, this dissertation develops rights-power interaction perspective as an alternative framework of the research about earnings inequality in reforming urban China. This perspective argues that in a transforming socialist society, institutional change is led by the expansion of private labor property rights and influenced by the partition of state power, and shapes the course of changing patterns of earnings inequality. Empirical analyses of statistical survey data provide evidence that returns to private work organizations and education are increasing, that returns to monopolistic state organizations are higher than those to competiti...[ Read more ]
Market transition debate has enriched the literature on the changing order of social stratification in post-socialist societies. To contribute to this debate, this dissertation develops rights-power interaction perspective as an alternative framework of the research about earnings inequality in reforming urban China. This perspective argues that in a transforming socialist society, institutional change is led by the expansion of private labor property rights and influenced by the partition of state power, and shapes the course of changing patterns of earnings inequality. Empirical analyses of statistical survey data provide evidence that returns to private work organizations and education are increasing, that returns to monopolistic state organizations are higher than those to competitive state organizations, and that returns to political capital have remained high over time. Analyses of inter-provincial variations in earnings inequality suggest that returns to education are positively associated with uneven progress of market transition at the provincial level. While some of the findings resemble the outcomes of previous studies, the present research draws attention to the rising privileged groups based on state intervention power, challenging the central argument of market transition theory that market forces undermine and replace political forces in determining the stratification order.
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