Chapter 7: Rising Inequality: Social, Economic and Spatial Divides

Question 1

What tool does China use to measure inequality?

Answer 1

Gini Coefficient

Question 2

What is the Gini Coefficient?

Answer 2

• it ranges from 0 to 1 (0 = perfect equality, 1 = perfect inequality, 0.4 + = severe inequality)

Question 3

How else can inequality be measured?

Answer 3

housing consumption and wealth

Question 4

What is the difference between inequality of outcome and inequality of opportunity?

Answer 4

Inequality of Outcome
- a fundamental belief is that all individuals will utilize the resources available to them to maximize their well-being
- Income is commonly used as a proxy for outcomes of the process, although other non income outcomes such as education and health are also important
Inequality of Opportunity
- is part of the inequality of outcome that can be attributed to differences in “Individual circumstances”, features that are beyond the control of the individual such as gender, race, ethnicity, and place of birth

Question 5

What are unique “individual circumstances” that lead to inequality of opportunity?

Answer 5

• the hukou status
• the work units they are affiliated with
• the city and region in which they live

Question 6

What is Inequality in China dominated by?

Answer 6

• urban-rural divide

Question 7

It is estimated that the urban-rural income gap in China contribute to about _____ to a high as _____% of the overall inequality.

Answer 7

1/3, 71%

Question 8

What is the prominence of the urban-rural divide? What is it?

Answer 8

• is a result of the hukou system
• divides the population into those with agricultural (rural) hukou and those with nonagricultural (urban) hukou and defines different opportunities and entitlements for them.

Question 9

There is significant spatial inequality in China, which is manifested at different levels: (4)

Answer 9

region
province
city
neighbourhood

Question 10

What are the three types of neighbourhoods of poverty in Chinese cities?

Answer 10

1. the old inner-city neighbourhoods
2. the degraded work-unit housing compounds
3. Migrant enclaves

Question 11

What consists of the “three-no” population?

Answer 11

1. people with no income
2. no work capacity
3. no family support

Question 12

Why are work units important?

Answer 12

• are essential social, economic and political institutions in Chinese society that lead to significant employment-based inequality
• were created to provide not only jobs and wages but also a range of welfare benefits and services to employees and their families, including subsidized housing, education, health care, pensions, insurance, social security, food and even recreation

Question 13

What is organized dependency?

Answer 13

• employees depended on their work units for virtually everything called “organized dependency”
• their welfare and opportunities were shaped by their work units

Question 14

What are the three main driving forces for the rising housing inequality?

Answer 14

1. privatization
2. marketization
3. Neoliberalization

Question 15

What is the main housing source in China?

Answer 15

private housing called commodity housing

- caters to different social strata, commodity housing is mainly for sale

Question 16

It is especially difficult for ____ people who did not have access to public housing to purchase commodity housing on the market

Answer 16

young

Question 17

What are house slaves? (fang nu)

Answer 17

• those who spend the rest of their lives to pay for their mortgages

Question 18

What are house uncles and house aunts? (fang shu and fang Sao)

Answer 18

own hundreds of expensive flats

Question 19

What age do men and women retire from the public sector?

Answer 19

Women = 55 years (further prevents women from advancing to high rank positions)
Men = 60 years

Question 20

How are Chinese colleges described?

Answer 20

as a “rich, Han, urban and male club”

Question 21

What is the third most important determinant of income inequality?

Answer 21

education

Question 22

What is the open-door policy?

Answer 22

• spatially biased
• resulted in significant spatial inequality in economic development, standard of living and income, which consequently contributed to a higher degree of inequality in China

Question 23

Explanation of the rising inequality of China: It can be classified into three different perspectives:

Answer 23

economic, social and institutional

Question 24

Explain rising inequality as a result of economic growth.

Answer 24

• belief that economic growth inevitably results in an increased level of income inequality at least in its initial stage
• economic growth is expected to lead to an initial rise and then a fall in income inequality
• another common economic interpretation of rising inequality focuses on individual-level factors especially on individual earning capabilities and rewards
• as individuals are rewarded differently, inequality rises

Question 25

Explain rising inequality as a result of a social process, through which individuals are socially re stratified .

Answer 25

• ## the changing social and economic structures reward some more than others, thus leading to inequality