The Political Economy of Reforms and the Remaking of the Proletarian Class in China, 1980s-2010s

This path-breaking book unveils the true colour of China's dominant socio-economic structure today. The author's unique case study convincingly demonstrates the propeller behind China's recent 'miracle growth'. With this book, a new line of investigation can be expected to better understand post-Mao China.

Shan Huang's study uses unique, in depth field research of the lives of workers in a state enterprise and their perception of their changed economic and political status over the era of the economic reforms since the 1980s. This work is based on intimate engagement with a specific case study, offering new insights into the development of modern China.

This book comprehensively investigates the position of China's working class between the 1980s and 2010s. It argues the case that, far from the illusion during the Maoist period that a new society had been established where the working classes held greater political and economic autonomy, economic reforms in the post-Mao era have led to the return of traditional Marxist proletariats in China. The book demonstrates how the reforms of Deng Xiaoping have led to increased economic efficiency at the expense of economic equality through an extensive case study of an SOE (state-owned enterprise) in Sichuan Province as well as wider discussions of the emergence of state capitalism on both a micro and macroeconomic level. The book also discusses workers' protests during these periods of economic reform to reflect the reformation of class consciousness in post-Mao China, drawing on Marx's concept of a transition from a 'class-in-itself' to a 'class-for-itself'.

Shan Huang is a Fellow at the United Nations Development Programme in New York and a PhD candidate at King's College London, focusing on the political economy of China and Chinese economic and social history.