The Political Economy of Reforms and the Remaking of the Proletarian Class in China, 1980s–2010s Demystifying China's Society and Social Classes in the Post-Mao Era

This book comprehensively investigates the position of China’s working class between the 1980s and 2010s and considers the consequences of economic reforms in historical perspective. It argues the case that, far from the illusion during the Maoist period that a new society had been established where the working classes held greater political and economic autonomy, economic reforms in the post-Mao era have led to the return of traditional Marxist proletariats in China. The book demonstrates how the reforms of Deng Xiaoping have led to increased economic efficiency at the expense of economic equality through an extensive case study of an SOE (state-owned enterprise) in Sichuan Province as well as wider discussions of the emergence of state capitalism on both a micro and macroeconomic level. The book also discusses workers’ protests during these periods of economic reform to reflect the reformation of class consciousness in post-Mao China, drawing on Marx’s concept of a transition from a‘class-in-itself' to a ‘class-for-itself’. It will be valuable reading for students and scholars of Chinese economic and social history, as well as political economy, sociology, and politics.

1. Introduction.- 2. Theories and Methodology Applied.- 3. The Case of E Group Corporation – An SOE in Sichuan, post-1949.- 4. Workers’ Returning to a Proletarian Position in post-1978.- 5. Nostalgia” and “Protests”: Class Consciousness and Class-for-itself .- 6. Reconstruction of Classes and Class Society in China  7. Final Conclusions.- 8. Appendices.

Shan Huang is a Fellow at the United Nations Development Programme in New York and a PhD candidate at King's College London, focusing on the political economy of China and Chinese economic and social history.