Chapter 7: Rising Inequality: Social, Economic and Spatial Divides Flashcards
What tool does China use to measure inequality?
Gini Coefficient
What is the Gini Coefficient?
- it ranges from 0 to 1 (0 = perfect equality, 1 = perfect inequality, 0.4 + = severe inequality)
How else can inequality be measured?
housing consumption and wealth
What is the difference between inequality of outcome and inequality of opportunity?
Inequality of Outcome
- a fundamental belief is that all individuals will utilize the resources available to them to maximize their well-being
- Income is commonly used as a proxy for outcomes of the process, although other non income outcomes such as education and health are also important
Inequality of Opportunity
- is part of the inequality of outcome that can be attributed to differences in “Individual circumstances”, features that are beyond the control of the individual such as gender, race, ethnicity, and place of birth
What are unique “individual circumstances” that lead to inequality of opportunity?
- the hukou status
- the work units they are affiliated with
- the city and region in which they live
What is Inequality in China dominated by?
- urban-rural divide
It is estimated that the urban-rural income gap in China contribute to about _____ to a high as _____% of the overall inequality.
1/3, 71%
What is the prominence of the urban-rural divide? What is it?
- is a result of the hukou system
- divides the population into those with agricultural (rural) hukou and those with nonagricultural (urban) hukou and defines different opportunities and entitlements for them.
There is significant spatial inequality in China, which is manifested at different levels: (4)
region
province
city
neighbourhood
What are the three types of neighbourhoods of poverty in Chinese cities?
- the old inner-city neighbourhoods
- the degraded work-unit housing compounds
- Migrant enclaves
What consists of the “three-no” population?
- people with no income
- no work capacity
- no family support
Why are work units important?
- are essential social, economic and political institutions in Chinese society that lead to significant employment-based inequality
- were created to provide not only jobs and wages but also a range of welfare benefits and services to employees and their families, including subsidized housing, education, health care, pensions, insurance, social security, food and even recreation
What is organized dependency?
- employees depended on their work units for virtually everything called “organized dependency”
- their welfare and opportunities were shaped by their work units
What are the three main driving forces for the rising housing inequality?
- privatization
- marketization
- Neoliberalization
What is the main housing source in China?
private housing called commodity housing
- caters to different social strata, commodity housing is mainly for sale