Abstract
This paper addresses the following questions: What are the key elements of the middle class? What do they really want? To what extent can the middle class serve as an agent for democratic change? Why is the Party trying to co-opt the middle class? Is the middle class a willing partner with the state or an autonomous force in opposition to the state? The paper concludes that at present, the new middle class as a whole does not pose any significant threat to current regime. It quietly endorses the leadership in Beijing. Nevertheless, in the long run, the middle class will have a significant impact upon the socio-political structure in China.
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He is the author ofSino-Latin American Economic Relations (New York: Praeger, 1991),From Revolution to Reform: A Comparative Study of China and Mexico (Lanham, Md.: University of America, forthcoming) and articles in several journals and edited volumes. An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in 2003. This study was supported by a faculty development grant from Merrimack College.
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Li, H. Middle class: Friends or foes to Beijing’s new leadership. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 8, 87–100 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02876951
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02876951