Polarized Cities: Portraits of Rich and Poor in Urban China (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781538116470)

This powerful book presents a fresh and compelling set of portraits that bring to life the human dimension of the vast and growing social and economic divides in urban China. Leading scholars explore the increasing rigidity of class and social boundaries, focusing on two new "castes" in contemporary China's cities--the immensely wealthy and the abjectly poor. Much has been made of the rise in incomes, the elimination of much rural poverty, and the expansion of an urban middle class over almost forty years of spectacular economic growth. But what often has been overlooked is the polarization, exclusion, and exclusiveness in cities that have accompanied this rise, along with the threat that these trends will extend to future generations. The book considers five cases that emblematize these castes and depict their varying degrees of agency. Highlighting the social groups at opposite ends of the social hierarchy, the contributors illuminate the growing inequality in urban China today.

Author: Dorothy J. Solinger
ISBN-10: 1538116472
ISBN-13: 9781538116470
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Language: English
Published: 09/14/2018
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.63d