Social Stratification , Home Ownership , and Quality of Living :Evidence from China' s Fifth Census

The research of China' s changing social stratification system hasfocused almost entirely on the analysis of income and occupational mobility.This paper instead draws attention to housing distribution, an aspect of social stratification that has increasing importance to life chances under a market-driven system.The urban portion of China' s 2000 Population and Housing Census is analyzed to examine variation by occupation in (1)home ownership , (2)home space , and (3)home quality.As of 2000, 72 % of the urban households are private home owners, which reveal a 48 % jump from the 24% in 1990.Households whose heads hold an elite occupation are significantly more likely to be in access to private homes than other households, and they show advantages of purchasing housing units previously rented, economically affordable homes, and, especially , newly constructed homes with a competitive market price.On the other hand, home space and quality also have improved tremendously since the early 1990s.Households headed by managerial and professional elites are in accessto large home space and better quality than are households headed by non-elites.These findings are in support of a view of power persistence, and informative about the fact that societal stability and continuity in social stratification are behind a successful economic reform program .

边燕杰,刘勇利

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