Events

Jointly organized by Asia Research Institute, and Centre for Family and Population Research, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.

CHAIRPERSON

Prof Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

In this presentation, Professor Xie documents a rapid increase in income inequality in China’s recent past, capitalizing on newly available survey data collected by several Chinese university survey organizations. He argues that China’s current high income inequality is mainly driven by structural factors that have been sustained by the Chinese political system, the main structural determinants being the rural-urban divide and the regional variation in economic wellbeing. He further proposes the following propositions: (1) inequality in China has been severely impacted by certain collective mechanisms, such as regions and work units; (2) traditional Chinese political ideology has promoted merit-based inequality, with merit being perceived as functional in improving the collective welfare for the masses; and (3) many Chinese people today regard inequality as an inevitable consequence of economic development.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Xie Yu is Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Sociology and has a faculty appointment at the Princeton Institute of International and Regional Studies, Princeton University. He is also a Visiting Chair Professor of the Center for Social Research, Peking University. His main areas of interest are social stratification, demography, statistical methods, Chinese studies, and sociology of science. His recently published works include: Marriage and Cohabitation (University of Chicago Press 2007) with Arland Thornton and William Axinn, Statistical Methods for Categorical Data Analysis with Daniel Powers (Emerald 2008, second edition), and Is American Science in Decline? (Harvard University Press, 2012) with Alexandra Killewald.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. Please register at http://goo.gl/forms/E92V9d8sN5 by 9 November 2015.