Abstract
This thesis investigates China’s working class and its historical change in social standing. It argues that during Maoist period there was an illusion that a new society was established, in which the working class became the master of the society with political and economic power. Such an illusion was ended in post-Mao economic reforms which aimed to improve economic efficiency at the expense of economic equality. Such a legitimate motivation changed Chinese society to such an extent that state capitalism has replaced socialism and the Marxian proletariat return to China’s social structure.Such an insight has been achieved by researching into a case study on an SOE- E Group Corporation (EGC), 1 which is a central government-controlled enterprise in Sichuan Province, China. Statistically speaking, what happened in EGC is not an isolated case despite the fact that workers employed by EGC has always been better position in the Chinese working class since Mao’s time.
The conclusion reached by this study is that since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms to improve the economic efficiency, China’s class structure has gone backwards. The implication is that China is an economy of state capitalism and Chinese working class has returned to their pre-1949 position in society.
| Date of Award | 1 Mar 2023 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Jan Knoerich (Supervisor) & Kerry Brown (Supervisor) |