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Capitalists without a ClassPolitical Diversity Among Private Entrepreneurs in ChinaJohns Hopkins University This article questions predictions about China’s democratic potential based on rising incomes in the private sector. For private entrepreneurs to constitute a democratizing force, structural theories expect two causal links: first, class formation; and second, collective action. This article examines national surveys of business owners, proposes a typology of entrepreneurs’ political behavior, and concludes that class formation has not occurred among private entrepreneurs. The absence of a common basis for identity and interaction challenges the hypothesis that China’s new capitalists might engage in collective action to demand democracy. Entrepreneurs should, thus, be examined at a lower level of abstraction rather than lumped into a catchall capitalist "middle class." Taking into account the employment background, social networks, and local political conditions of people in apparently similarly situated groups is essential for explaining political dynamics in transitional contexts where the identities and interests of new economic actors are mediated by prereform experiences.
Key Words: capitalists • class • democracy • China • socialist transition
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 38, No. 9,
1130-1158 (2005) |
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