Abstract
This chapter addresses the recent growth of the Chinese middle class from a Weberian point of view. Starting from a re-appreciation of Weber’s Confucianism study, a comprehensive framework for analyzing China’s economic success is presented, including political, economic, cultural, and environmental aspects. According to Weber, ideas and interests have to be balanced against each other in social analysis. The actual and changing role of Confucian values in emerging political and economic institutions is discussed. The chapter assesses the size and composition of the Chinese middle class, and discusses the consequences for consumption and the environment. Although consumerism in China is still confined to a rather minor social segment, its actual growth rate leads to the conclusion that by 2020, China’s consumer market will have reached the size of the one that most Western European countries display today.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
People’s Daily Online, 20 July 2006 (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200607/20/eng20060720_285083.html). A Gini coefficient of 0 indicates equal distribution of income, a value of 1 stands for totally uneven distribution. One should note that inequality in rural or urban areas respectively is lower than inequality across both types of regions (Wu & Perloff, 2005).
- 2.
While one should appreciate the role of the government in reducing mainly rural poverty, one should at the same time be careful in observing new forms of urban poverty (Liu & Wu, 2006).
- 3.
The actual amount of Taiwan-originated investment in mainland China may be two to three times the amount publicly acknowledged.
- 4.
A similar situation holds for Shanghai, a city that emerged as China’s first global city during the 1990s. In 2000, a total of 23 billion $ have been flowing into the city as FDI. 42.3% came from Hong Kong, 15.7% from Japan, 6% from Taiwan, and 5.5% from Singapore. More than 70% of all FDI to Shanghai originated in East Asia, only 28% in the West (mainly USA, Germany, UK, Australia, and Canada). Accordingly, although not as marked, 55% of all foreign migrants/residents in Shanghai in 2000 came from origin destinations in East Asia, and only 30% from the West (Li & Wu, 2006: 256, Table 2).
- 5.
It is interesting to compare the Chinese version of social capital (guanxi) with the Russian one (blat) (Hsu, 2005). Russian blat devolved into corruption, played a major role in state-business relations, but faded in importance for ordinary citizens. Without a way to build trust or extend networks, average Russians retreated into defensive involution, and engaged in predatory behavior against those outside their small circles of friends. Instead of capitalism without contracts, Russia suffered the depredations of capitalists without capitalism.
- 6.
The annual income for members of the lower middle class according to this study is $3,019–4,831, for the upper middle class it is $4,831–12,077.
- 7.
This is a rather conservative categorization, as some fractions of the working and especially the service classes will probably count as middle class in terms of purchasing power and mentality. On the other hand, the typical consumption pattern of workers in China’s urban growth areas puts additional constraints to their categorization as middle class. Coming mostly from rural areas, the workers’ goals are to simply accumulate as much money as possible before they go back to their rural hometowns. This is in stark contrast to typical U.S. or European factory workers who, historically at least, expect to hold their jobs until retirement and be increasingly active consumers. In China, workers engage in factory jobs for a short time and consume very few goods during that time (Fox, Donohue, & Wu, 2005; Li & Li, 2007).
- 8.
For a brief characterization of the role of entrepreneurs in modern China and their consumption behavior see Goodman 1996.
- 9.
Chunling (2003) concludes that 27% of the Chinese population can be regarded as middle class in terms of occupational background, whereas 24.6% can be counted as middle class in terms of income. Myers and Kent (2003) count 303 million people (or 24% of the 2000 population) as “new consumers”, i.e. purchasing power of at least PPP $10,000 per year, i.e., at least PPP $2,500 per person. According to our assessment, this gives rather an upper boundary for the Chinese middle class. Li and Zhang (2008) assess the size of the middle in all China to be 12.1, in urban China to be 25.4.
- 10.
Subjective class assessments reveal that 85% of urban residents (N=3,038) identified themselves as middle class (14% as “upper middle”, 43.1% as “middle middle”, and 28.4% as “lower middle”) (Xiaohong, 2004). This subjective class perception in part reflects the overall political climate, but it also reflects the future expectations of the non-middle-class members of society.
- 11.
Sinus stresses, however, that the consumerist traits in modern Chinese middle-classes are by no means an exclusive result of social imitation of the West (e.g. via the mass media). Even the “full speed” modernizers always try to reconnect their views and practices to elements of the Chinese cultural tradition.
References
Auffhammer, M., & Carson, R. T. (2008). Forecasting the path of China’s CO2 emissions using province level information. Accepted by Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (DOI 10.1016/j.jeem.2007.10.002)
Balazs, E. (1967). Chinese civilization and bureaucracy. Variations on a theme. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Beckert, J. (2007). The social order of markets. Cologne: MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/15.
Bendix, R. (1977). Max weber: An intellectual portrait. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
Bian, Y. (2002). Chinese social stratification and social mobility. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 91–116.
Boltho, A. (2004). China—Can rapid economic growth continue? The Singapore Economic Review, 49(2), 255–272.
Buckley, P. J., & Meng, C. (2005). The Strategy of foreign-invested manufacturing enterprises in China: Export-orientated and market-orientated FDI revisited. Journal of Chinese Economics and Business Studies, 3(2), 111–131.
Bun, C. K. (Ed.). (2000). Chinese business networks: State, economy and culture. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.
Cai, F., & Wang, M. (2008). A counterfactual analysis on unlimited surplus labor in rural China. China & World Economy, 16(1), 51–65.
Chan, R. Y. K. (2001). Determinants of Chinese consumers’ green purchase behavior. Psychology & Marketing, 18(4), 389–413.
Chen, A. H. Y. (1999). Rational law, economic development and the case of China. Social & Legal Studies, 8(1): 97–120.
Chen, C.-Z., & Lin, Z.-S. (2008). Multiple timescale analysis and factor analysis of energy ecological footprint growth in China 1953–2006. Energy Policy, 36(5), 1666–1678.
Chunling, L. (2003). Zhongguo dangdai zhongchan jieceng de goucheng ji bili [The composition and percentage of China’s contemporary middle stratum] Retrieved March 20, 2008 from http://www.sachina.edu.cn/Htmldata/article/2005/09/289.html.
Cohen, I. J. (1981). Introduction. In M. Weber (Ed.), General economic history (pp. XV–LV). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Cohen, J. A. (2006). Law in political transitions: Lessons from East Asia and the road ahead for China. Journal of International Law and Politics, 37(3), 423–429.
Croll, E. (2006). China’s new consumers: Social development and domestic demand. London: Routledge.
Curtis, K. R., McCluskey, J. J., & Wahl, T. I. (2007). Consumer preferences for western-style convenience foods in China. China Economic Review, 18(1), 1–14.
Davis, D. S. (Ed.). (2000). The consumer revolution in urban China. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press.
Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How societies choose to succeed or fail. New York: Viking.
Dollar, D. (2008). New PPPs reveal China has had more poverty reduction than we thought. World Bank Discussion Forum. http://eapblog.worldbank.org/content/new-ppps-reveal-china-has-had-more-poverty-reduction-than-we-thought
Dougherty, S., Herd, R., & He, P. (2007). Has a private sector emerged in China’s industry? Evidence from a quarter of a million Chinese firms. China Economic Review, 18(3), 309–334.
Economy, E. (2004). The river runs black: The environmental challenge to China’s future. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Economy, E. (2007, September/October). The Great Leap backward? Foreign Affairs , 25–29.
Edmonds, P. (1994). Patterns of China’s lost harmony: A survey of the country’s environmental degradation and protection. London: Routledge.
Farquhar, J. (2002). Appetites: Food and sex in Post-Socialist China. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Fligstein, N. (2001). The architecture of markets – An economic sociology of twenty-first century capitalist societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fox, J. B., Donohue, J. M., & Wu, J. (2005). Beyond the image of Foreign Direct Investment in China: Where ethics meets public relations. Journal of Business Ethics, 56, 317–324.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York, NY: Free Press.
Gold, T., Guthrie, D., & Wank, D. (Eds.). (2002). Social connections in China: Institutions, culture, and the changing nature of guanxi. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press.
Goodman, D. S. G. (1996). The People’s Republic of China. The party-state, capitalist revolution and new entrepreneurs. In R. Robison, & D. S. G. Goodman (Eds.), The new rich in Asia: Mobile phones, McDonald’s and middle-class revolution (pp. 225–242). London and New York: Routledge.
Guthrie, D. (2006). China and globalization: The social, economic and political transformation of Chinese society. New York and London: Routledge.
Haley, G., Tan, C.T., & Haley, U. (1998). The new Asian emperors: The Chinese overseas, their strategies and competitive advantages. London: Butterworth Heinemann.
Hall, P. A., & Soskice, D. (2003). Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantages. Oxford etc.: Oxford University Press.
Heartfield, J. (2005). China’s comprador capitalism is coming home. Review of Radical Political Economics, 37(2), 196–214.
Heilbronner, R. L. (1985). The nature and logic of capitalism. New York and London: W.W. Norton.
Heilmann, S. (2008). Policy experimentation in China’s economic rise. Studies in Comparative International Development, 43(1), 1–26.
Hill, M. (2000). ‘Asian values’ as reverse Orientalism: Singapore. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 41(2), 177--190.
Ho, P. (2007). Embedded activism and political change in a semiauthoritarian context. China Information, 21(2), 187–209.
Ho, P., & Edmonds, R. L. (2007). Perspectives of time and change. China Information, 21(2), 331–344.
Hofstede, G., & Bond, M. H. (1988). The Confucius connection: From cultural roots to economic growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16, 4–21.
Hollstein, B. (2002). Kann man mit Max Weber den Transformationsprozess in China besser verstehen? In H. G. Nutzinger (Ed.), Religion, Werte und Wirtschaft. China und der Transformationsprozess in Asien (pp. 43–53). Marburg: Metropolis.
Hsing, Y. T. (1998). Making capitalism in China: The Taiwanese connection. Oxford etc.: Oxford University Press.
Hsu, C. L. (2005). Capitalism without contracts versus capitalists without capitalism: Comparing the influence of Chinese guanxi and Russian blat on marketization. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 38, 309–327.
Hu, A. (2006). Economic and social transformation in China: Challenges and opportunities. London: Routledge.
Hu, Y. (2007). Implementation of voluntary agreements for energy efficiency in China. Energy Policy, 35, 5541–5548.
Hubacek, K., Guan, D., & Barua, A. (2007). Changing lifestyles and consumption patterns in developing countries: A scenario analysis for China and India. Futures, 39(9), 1084–1096.
Hung, H. (2007). Changes and continuities in the political ecology of popular protest. China Information, 21(2), 299–329.
Isensee, A. (2007). Chinas Weg in die kapitalistische Moderne: Historische Bedingungen und Zukunftsperspektiven. Universität Potsdam: Magisterarbeit Soziologie.
Jaeger, C. (1994). Taming the dragon: Transforming economic institutions in the face of global change. Philadelphia, PA: Gordon and Breach.
Keister, L. A. (2001). Exchange structures in transition: Lending and trade relations in Chinese business groups. American Sociological Review, 66(3), 336–360.
Kluckhohn, F. R., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961). Variations in value orientation. Evanston, IL: Paterson.
Krug, B. (2002). Kultur und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in China. In H. G. Nutzinger (Ed.), Religion, Werte und Wirtschaft. China und der Transformationsprozess in Asien (pp. 129–146). Marburg: Metropolis.
Latham, K., Thompson, S., & Klein, J. (Eds.). (2006). Consuming China: Approaches to cultural change in contemporary China. Milton Park, New York: Routledge.
Lee, S. (2007). Environmental movements and social organizations in Shanghai. China Information, 21(2), 269–297.
Leonhard, M. (2008). What Does China Think? London: Fourth Estate.
Leung, C. K. (1993). Personal contacts, subcontracting linkages, and development in the Hong Kong-Zhujiang Delta region. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 83(2), 272–302.
Li, L. (2004). Political trust in rural China. Modern China, 30(2), 228–258.
Li, L. (2007). The weak valence in weak ties and its transformation: A cultural interpretation of Chinese guanxi. Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology, 27(4), 175–194.
Li, P. (Ed.). (2004). New change of Chinese social stratification structure. In P. Li (Ed.),Social stratification in China’s today (pp. 21–43). Beijing: Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences.
Li, P., & Li, W. (2007). Economic status and social attitudes of migrant workers in China. China & World Economy, 15(4), 1–16.
Li, P., & Zhang, Y. (2008). The scope, identity, and social attitudes of the middle class in China. Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology, 28(2), 1–19.
Li, S. (2004). Why is property right protection lacking in China? An institutional explanation. California Management Review, 46(3), 100–115.
Li, Z., & Wu, F. (2006). Socioeconomic transformations in Shanghai (1990–2000): Policy impacts in global–national–local contexts. Cities, 23(4), 250–268.
Li, H., Zhang, J., Sin, L. T., & Zhao, Y. (2006). Relative earnings of husbands and wives in urban China. China Economic Review, 17(4), 412–431.
Li, Y., & Hewitt, C.N. (2008). The effect of trade between China and the UK on national and global carbon dioxide emissions. Energy Policy, 36, 1907--1914.
Liang, Z., & Ma, Z. (2004). China’s floating population: New evidence from the 2000 census. Population and Development Review, 30(3), 467–488.
Lim, L. (1996). South Asian business systems: The dynamics of diversity. In A. E. Safarian, & W. Dobson (Eds.), East Asian capitalism: Diversity and dynamism (pp. 91–118). Hong Kong Bank of Canada Papers on Asia, Vol. 2. Toronto: University of Toronto.
Lin, G. C. S. (2002). The growth and structural change of Chinese cities: A contextual and geographic analysis. Cities, 19(5), 299–316.
Liu, J., Wang, R., & Yang, J. (2005). Metabolism and driving forces of Chinese urban household consumption. Population and Environment, 26(4), 325–341.
Liu, J.-K. (2007). Korruption und Korruptionsbekämpfung in China – ein Kampf gegen Windmühlen. China aktuell, 5, 70–95.
Liu, Y., & Wu, F. (2006). The state, institutional transition and the creation of new urban poverty in China. Social Policy & Administration, 40(2), 121–137.
Long, G. (2005). China’s policies on FDI: Review and evaluation. In T. D. Moran, E. M. Graham, & M. Bloström (Eds.), Does foreign investment promote development? (pp. 315–345). Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.
Lury, C. (1996). Consumer culture. Chapel Hill, NC: Rutgers University Press.
McNally, C. (2006). Insinuations on China’s emergent capitalism. Honululu, HI: East-West Center Working Papers, No. 15.
Menzel, U. (2008). Von Asien lernen? Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, 3, 43–51.
MGI (McKinsey Global Institute). (2006). From ‘Made in China’ to ‘Sold in China’: The rise of the Chinese urban consumer. Los Angeles, CA: McKinsey & Co.
Morrison, W. M. (2006). China’s economic conditions. U.S. Congressional Research Service, CRS Issue Brief for Congress, IB 89014, Washington DC.
Murray, B. (2000). Dollars and sense: Foreign investment in Russia and China. Problems of Post-Communism, 47(4), 24–33.
Murray, G., & Cook, I. G. (2002). Green China. Seeking ecological alternatives. London: Routledge.
Myers, N., & Kent, J. (2003). New consumers: The influence of affluence on the environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 100(8), 4963–4968.
Nee, V. (2005). Organizational dynamics of institutional change: Politicized capitalism in China. In V. Nee, & R. Swedberg (Eds.), The economic sociology of capitalism (pp. 53–74). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Nee, V., & Cao, Y. (2005). Market transition and the firm: Institutional change and income inequality in urban China. Management and Organization Review, 1(1), 23–56.
Nee, V., Opper, S., & Wong, S. (2007). Developmental state and corporate governance in China. Center for the Study of Economy and Society, Cornell University, Ithaca; NY, CSES Working Paper Series No. 35.
Nolan, P. H. (2001). China and the global business revolution. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Nolan, P. H. (2004). China at the crossroads. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Panther, S. (2002). Sozialkapital und Religion – das Beispiel China. In H. G. Nutzinger (Ed.), Religion, Werte und Wirtschaft. China und der Transformationsprozess in Asien (pp. 243–266). Marburg: Metropolis.
Redding, S. G. (1990). The spirit of Chinese capitalism. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.
Redding, G. (2000). What is Chinese about Chinese family business? And how much is family and how much is business? In: H. W. Yeung, & K. Olds (Eds.), Globalization of Chinese business (pp. 31–54). New York: St Martin’s Press.
Reusswig, F. (2007). Consuming nature. Modern lifestyles and their environment. Habilitation Thesis. Potsdam University.
Sang-In, J. (1999). No (logical) place for Asian values in East Asia’s economic development. Development and Society, 28(2), 191–204.
Schirmer, D. (2004). Soziologie und Lebensstilforschung in der Volksrepublik China. Perspektiven einer Mikrotheorie gesellschaftlichen Wandels. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Schluchter, W. (1980). Rationalismus der Weltbeherrschung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Schmidt, V. (2004). Erfolgsbedingungen des konfuzianischen Wohlfahrtskapitalismus. Kultursoziologische und modernisierungstheoretische Überlegungen. In P. Stykow, & J. Beyer (Eds.), Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Hoffnung. Reformfähigkeit und die Möglichkeit rationaler Politik (pp. 175–196). Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Shen, J., & Saijo, T. (2008). Reexamining the relations between socio-demographic characteristics and individual environmental concern: Evidence from Shanghai data. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28(1), 42–50.
Shen, L., Cheng, S., Gunson, A. J., & Wan, H. (2005). Urbanization, sustainability and the utilization of energy and mineral resources in China. Cities, 22(4), 287–302.
Shui, B., & Harriss, R. C. (2006). The role of CO2 embodiment in US–China trade. Energy Policy, 34(18): 4063–4068.
Siebert, H. (2007). China: Coming to grips with the new global player. The World Economy, 30(6), 893–922.
SinusSociovision. (2005). Sinus goes China. Navigator, 3, 1–3.
Smart, A. (1993). Gifts, bribes, and guanxi: a reconsideration of Bourdieu’s social capital. Cultural Anthropology, 8(3), 388–408.
Smart, J., & Smart, A. (1991). Personal connections and divergent economies: A case study of Hong Kong investment in China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 15(2), 216–233.
Smil, V. (1993). China’s environmental crisis: An inquiry into the limits of national development. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Staiger, B. (Ed.). (2000). Länderbericht China. Geschichte, Politik, Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Kultur. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Steinhardt, H. C., & Jiang, Y. (2007). Die politischen Determinanten des chinesischen ‘GreenGDP”-Projekts. China aktuell, 5, 25–39.
Tai, H. (Ed.). (1989). Confucianism and economic development: An oriental alternative. Washington, DC: Washington Institute Press.
Taube, M. (2006). Der Beitrag ausländischer Direktinvestitionen zur ökonomischen Entwicklung in der VR China. In Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Ed.), Auslandsinvestitionen (pp. 224–252). Freiburg: Herder.
Teiwes, F. C. (2000). The Chinese state during the Maoist era. In D. Shambaugh (Ed.), The modern Chinese state (pp. 105–160). Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press.
Thiers, P. (2005). Using global organic markets to pay for ecologically based agricultural development in China. Agriculture and Human Values, 22, 3–15.
Tian, G. Liu, J., & Zhang, Z. (2002). Urban functional structure characteristics and transformation in China. Cities, 19(4), 243–248.
Tsai, K. S. (2005). Capitalists without a class. Comparative Political Studies, 38(9), 1130–1158.
Tong, S. Y., & Zheng, Y. (2008). China’s Trade Acceleration and the Deepening of an East Asian Regional Production Network. China & World Economy, 16(1), 66–81.
Tu, W. (Ed.). (1988). The third cord: Confucian ethics, industrial East Asia and Max Weber. Singapore: The Institute of East Asian Philosophies.
Tu, W. (Ed.). (1996). Confucian traditions in East Asian modernity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). (2005). China in a globalizing world. Geneva: UNCTAD.
Veeck, A., & Veeck, G. (2000). Consumer segmentation and changing food purchase patterns in Nanjing, PRC. World Development, 28(3), 457–471.
Wang, T., & Watson, J. (2007). Who owns China’s carbon emissions? Sussex Energy Group and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Briefing Paper 23.
Wang, Z.-X. (2004, March 22–24). The impact on self-expression values: Modernization, economic development, and higher education. Paper presented at the ‘Market, Democracy, and Citizens in Pacific Rim’ Conference, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Weber, M. (1920). Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie. Band I. Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck.
Weggel, O. (1997). China im Aufbruch. Konfuzianismus und politische Zukunft. München: Beck.
Wei, Y.-M., Liu, L. C., Fan, Y., & Wu, G. (2007). The impact of lifestyle on energy use and CO2 emission: An empirical analysis of China’s residents. Energy Policy, 35(1), 247–257.
Whitley, R. (2006). Understanding differences: Searching for the social processes that construct and reproduce variety in science and economic organization. Organization Studies, 27(8), 1153–1177.
World Bank. (1993). The East Asian miracle: Economic growth and public policy. Oxford etc.: Oxford University Press.
World Bank. (2003). China: Promoting growth with equity. Report No. 24169-CHA, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit East Asia and Pacific Region, Washington, DC.
World Bank. (2007). An overview of China’s transport sector – 2007. EASTE Working Paper No. 15, December 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2008 from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEAPREGTOPTRANSPORT/34004324-1189182692007/21600796/07-12-19_China_Transport_Sector_Overview_.pdf
Worldwatch. (2006). State of the world 2006: Special focus: China and India. Washington, DC: The Worldwatch Institute.
Wu, X., & Perloff, J. M. (2005). China’s income distribution, 1985–2001. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 87(4), 763–775.
Wu, X., & Treiman, D. J. (2004). The household registration system and social stratification in China: 1955–1996. Demography, 41, 363–384.
Xiaohong, Z. (2004). Zhongguo zhongchang jieceng diaocha [Survey of the Chinese middle class]. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
Xin, K. R., & Pearce, J. L. (1996). Guanxi: Connections as substitutes for formal institutional support. Academy of Management Journal, 39(6), 1641–1658.
Yao, X. (2003). An introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press.
Yi, L. (2005). The structure and evolution of Chinese social stratification. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Young, G., & Calhoun, C. (2007). Media, civil society, and the rise of a green public sphere in China. China Information, 21(2), 211–236.
Zhang, J. (2005). An explanatory study of bilateral FDI relations: The case of China. Journal of Chinese Economics and Business Studies, 3(2), 133–150.
Zhang, K., Wen, Z., & Peng, L. (2007). Environmental policies in China: Evolvement, features and evaluation. China Population, Resources and Environment, 17(2), 1–7.
Zhang, X., Dagevos, H., He, Y., van der Lans, I., & Zhai, F. (2008). Consumption and corpulence in China. A consumer segmentation study based on the food perspective. Food Policy, 33, 37–47.
Zhao, B. (1997). Consumerism, Confucianism, Communism: Making sense of China today. New Left Review, 22, 43–59.
Zhao, S. X. B., Chan, R. K., & Kelvin, T. O. S. (2003). Globalization and the dominance of large cities in contemporary China. Cities, 20(4), 265–278.
Zhu, Q., Sarkis, R., & Geng, Y. (2005). Green supply chain management in China: pressures, practices and performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 25(5), 449–468.
Zöllner, R. (2002). Religiöse und kulturelle Prägungen in Ostasien in historischer Dimension. In H. G. Nutzinger (Ed.), Religion, Werte und Wirtschaft. China und der Transformationsprozess in Asien (pp. 90–102). Marburg: Metropolis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reusswig, F., Isensee, A. (2009). Rising Capitalism, Emerging Middle-Classes and Environmental Perspectives in China: A Weberian Approach. In: Meier, L., Lange, H. (eds) The New Middle Classes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9938-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9938-0_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9937-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9938-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)