Social Issues in China

Social Issues in China:

Gender, Ethnicity, Labor, and the Environment

Zhidong Hao and Sheying Chen, editors

 One of the great ironies of world politics belongs to China. Having carried out a revolution to reform societal ills, it has ended up with broadly the same problems as the West: gender inequities, ethnic conflict, labor disputes, and environmental decline.

Now, in tandem with its recent economic development, movements toward social justice are poised to further transform the nation.

 Social Issues in China offers a fascinating multilayered study of wide-scale problems and the actors and activists involved in their possible solutions. Divided equally among gender, labor, ethnicity, and the environment (with some matters compounded by questions of age and geography), chapters illuminate tensions between public policy--some recent, others centuries old--and public participation by intellectuals and various disadvantaged groups. A constant throughout these pages is the potential for change in a nation's political, social, and cultural institutions, toward a more responsive society, a more responsible government, and improved quality of life for its people. Among the featured concerns:

• Rural Chinese women's political participation: problems and prospects
• Domestic labor, gendered intergenerational contracts, and shared elder care in rural South China
• Interpreting the ethnicization of social conflict in China
• Language, learning, and identity: problematizing education in Tibet
• Trade union membership and workplace relations
• The struggle for survival and impact: case studies of  NGOs involved in gender, ethnicity, labor, and environmental issues

A volume with global implications, Social Issues in China gives sociologists, political scientists,  psychologists, educators, and public policymakers a profound lens for understanding social problems and social change processes--in its title country, and in general.

Since the start of economic reforms in 1978, the world’s most populous nation has witnessed huge social change, including mass urbanization and ecological devastation. This study of gender, ethnicity, labor, and environment examines key modernization issues.

Part I   Gender Relations in China.- 1: Introduction: Gender, Ethnicity, Labor, and the Environment as Social Issues and Public Policy Challenges.- 2. Rural Chinese Women's Political Participation: Problems and Prospects.- 3.Self-Assertive Mistresses and Corrupt Officials: The Complex  Interdependencies.- 4. Domestic Labor, Gendered Intergenerational Contract and Shared Elderly Care in Rural South China.- 5. The Growth and Dilemma of Women's NGOs in China.- Part II   Ethnic Relations in China.- 6.Language, Learning and Identity: Problematizing the Education for Tibetans.-   7.   Interpreting the Ethnicization of Social Conflict in China: Ethnonationalism, Identity, and Social Justice.- 8. A Harmonious Society: National Policies and Ethnic Relations.-9. NGO Development in China's Ethnic Areas.- Part III Labor Relations in China.-10.Labor Contract, Trade Union Membership and Workplace Relations.-11.Labor Protection for Migrant Workers in China: A Perspective of Institutional Reform.-12.From Societization of Workers’ Rights Defending to the Construction of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Experience of Yiwu City's General Trade Union.-13. The Role of Intellectuals in Contemporary China's Labor Movement: A Preliminary Exploration.-Part IV  The Environmental Movement.- 14.Environmental Problems in China: Issues and Prospects.- 15. The Struggle for Survival: A Case Study of an Environmental NGO in Zhejiang Province.-16.Public Participation in Environmental Protection in China: Three Case Analyses.- 17. Political Opportunity and the Anti-dam Movement in China: A Case Study of Nu River.-