The 1990 World Values Survey demonstrated that industrialization promotes a shift from traditional to secular-rational values. Drawing data from a sample survey of 2,350 respondents in Shanghai, this study examines the impact of social change on people's values in China. Specifically, we are interested in (1) are there significant differences in values between different generations in China? (2) Do younger generations tend to have more modern values? (3) What are the main factors that affect the differences? The results show that the younger generations in China have already shifted from traditional values to modern values in a recent social transformation process. In addition, the younger generations tend to be more secular. They are more likely to regard self-development as the most important thing in life rather than making contributions to the country and society. Further, the younger generations are more individualistic than the old generations. They are more likely to live according to their own lifestyles regardless of what others think. Thus, they are less likely to follow the traditional collective ideology. Overall, the study shows significant generational gaps in value orientations in China.
The local ‘touchdown’ of globalization gives rise to many complex global–local nexuses, and understanding their nature, structure, and consequences presents a major analytical challenge for globalization research. This paper attempts to untangle one global–local nexus by examining the ‘sorting’ of people into residential or neighborhood spaces in globalizing Shanghai as a function of individual demographic and socioeconomic attributes and by examining personal global connectivity as a key relational variable. We begin with an overview of how local residential differentiation in general and particularly in Shanghai has evolved through the current phase of accelerated globalization and through the city's booming decade of the 1990s. Then, using survey data from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai in 2001, we present a statistical account and analysis of the increasingly varied and layered residential spaces of Shanghai into which people are ‘sorted’ by both internal local and extralocal factors. The analysis shows that, net of a number of demographic and socioeconomic variables, personal global connections have an effect on people living in different neighborhood areas, especially in more expensive and exclusive housing estates. Finally, we discuss the implications of the findings for how the individual-level impact of global connectivity could reinforce local spatiosocial stratification in rapidly globalizing cities like Shanghai.
This article provides an integrated review of sociological perspectives and research on seven areas of inquiry regarding change and continuity in urban China over the past two decades or so. We begin with an assessment of the sociological literature on stratification and inequality in light of the state-market debate and its extensions. Then we evaluate the research on social networks as a resilient resource that can influence social stratification and social change. Next we examine the more interdisciplinary research on migration and migrant labor, highlighting its sociological insights. This is followed by a critical look at housing studies that have revealed a new residential landscape in the Chinese city. Then we present our take on the scholarly contributions to urban consumption, followed by a presentation and appraisal of studies of changing urban governance that have focused on the danwei and community. Our final review focus is the critical work on different forms of mobilization and resistance in response to tensions and conflicts from uneven reform and market transition. Following this extended albeit selective review of the rich and diverse literatures, we offer an overall assessment of their dominant themes, disciplinary weights, and diverse approaches. Finally, we advocate for more theorization, comparison, and integration as ways of advancing both sociological and interdisciplinary research on urban China.
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