Consumption Patterns of the Middle Class in Contemporary China: A Case Study in Beijing
Author: Zhu, Di , zhudisoc@163.com
Department: Sociology
University: The University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Supervisor: Alan Warde
Year of completion: 2011
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
middle class
, consumption
, China
, consumer culture
Areas of Research:
Stratification
, Communication, Knowledge and Culture
, Regional and Urban Development
Abstract
This thesis, set against the background of accounts of globalisation, aims to examine the consumer orientation of the middle class in contemporary China, and in particular, how the new elements in consumer orientation operate in the Chinese context. This study focuses on the contemporary middle class, including professionals, managers, business-owners and civil servants, and on metropolitan cities, because these are the two most important factors in the rise of consumer culture in China. The data draws on the China General Social Survey of 2003 and 30 interviews with middle class people in Beijing carried out in 2008. The quantitative analysis is concerned with characteristics of the middle class in the metropolitan cities and their participation in consumption practices. The qualitative portion of the study provides a comprehensive analysis of the consumption patterns and the consumer orientations of 30 adults and considers subjective interpretations in specific contexts. The focus is on everyday consumption patterns, taste and material culture, and the findings are interpreted in relation to major theories in the sociology of consumption. In order to understand consumption patterns, this dissertation seeks accounts of consumer orientations: the distinct or particular reasons for purchasing and using certain material goods and services. Consumption patterns are also explained against the background of globalization, and in relation to the essential features of Chinese culture, social changes and social conventions. The analysis draws attention particularly to the justifications of tastes by the Chinese middle class and exposes their concomitant anxieties and ambivalence. It is shown that the pursuit of pleasure, tempered by the pursuit of comfort, is a significant form of aesthetic justification; and living within one’s means, i.e. balancing expenditure and income, is the main moral justification. The orientation to personal pleasure and comfort is shaped by social conventions, traditional values and the metropolitan context. Consumer sovereignty, as opposed to social discipline and authority, becomes a force. Despite anxieties and ambivalence, the interviewees generally show satisfaction and confidence with their consumption. The findings challenge the stereotype of the Chinese ‘new rich’ and the one-dimensional pictures of tendencies towards either conspicuous display or frugality.
