Housing And Class Identification Of Urban Residents In China

When individuals feel their positions in the society,the perceptions show the society's basic structure.In the previous studies about the defining factors of class identification,researchers follow three major approaches—the structural status theory,the historical and cultural theory and the state-centered theory.Based on prior studies,the paper analyzes the class identification of Chinese urban residents,under the background of China's urban housing system reform.The research includes housing as an explanation factor for the class identification,and analyzes the gap between individuals' objective and subjective social status,with the help of the spatial production theory,the symbolic consumption theory and the housing class theory.More importantly,the paper analyzes how housing and individuals'socioeconomic class influence people's class identification in different historic periods.It shows that the importance of these factors has changed in a time of social transformation,and reflects the logic of how social classes are formed.According to the survey data in CGSS2010 and CGSS2015,we found that:(1)Housing is a significant factor in the subjective class identification for urban Chinese residents.The more housing they own,the higher class they feel belong to.(2)Both housing and individuals' socioeconomic status influence the subjective class identification,but their importance have changed as time goes.While housing seems to play a more important role,the power of people's professions and income have decreased.(3)Housing is an important factor of people's future class identification.Individuals' socioeconomic status have very limited contribution to urban residence's future social class projection,while the ownership of housing seems to be more significant.The research shows that housing is an important factor of people's subjective class identification and it's still getting stronger.Housing partly replaces professions and income as the defining factors.People have attached more and more importance to housing,a strong factor in China's class polarization.It's likely that another important social class system based on housing has formed,besides the traditional system based on professions.It may break the old social class order and become the new social mobility's engine.