CLASS IN A CLASSLESS SOCIETY: AN INTERPRETIVE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL CLASS IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (MARXISM, SOCIALISM, CRITICAL THEORY)

The People's Republic of China claims to have eliminated the antagonistic relations between social classes which, according to Marxist doctrine, exist under capitalism. Officially, there are classes; but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the force leading China's "cause of socialism," claims to represent the interest of all the people of China.; Drawing on literature from dissident Marxists such as Leon Trotsky, Milovan Djilas, and Wang Xizhe this dissertation adopts, as a working hypothesis, the suggestion that the CCP has evolved into a "new class" which has its own interests. I review and interpret theories of social class developed from capitalist and socialist societies to develop a framework for analysis which considers as critical for understanding China's political economy the concept of "economic ownership," which examines the control over property exercised by managers or cadre.; This dissertation offers a new interpretation of CCP epistemology. This epistemology has substituted the bifurcation of society into friends or enemies for Marxist political economy. I use a unique method employing short stories from the Beijing journal People's Literature to analyze perceptions of social stratification and compare charges from underground journals that CCP cadre form a "new class" to 160 cases of malfeasance of office by Party cadre.; The dissertation asks: What does the term class mean in China? Who makes the rules about what is a class and are these rules universally accepted? My interpretation concludes that an analysis of ownership relations of production proves a significant factor in understanding political economy in China. More significant are lines of management and authority, residence in an urban or rural area, and Party membership combined with a position of authority. The concepts of "class" and "the new class" have lost much of their meaning. An analysis of hierarchical interests in sectors of the economy (agriculture, light industry, etc.) as they relate to wealth, employment opportunities, development strategies, "economic ownership," and life style is more helpful as a tool for understanding political economy in socialist China.