title: A Middle Class Without Democracy: Economic Growth and the Prospects for Democratization in China
author:  Jie Chen 
description: <br>"Jie Chen is correct that no topic is more central for the future of US-China relations than understanding the political values and behaviors of the rising generation of college educated professionals and managers. Using extensive survey and interview data from three of China's most important cities, Chen successfully explains the challenges and consequences of engaging this group of 'contingent democratic supporters' into the next phase of China's economic and political transformations." -Deborah Davis, Yale University <br>
zlib_text: The Middle Class in Neoliberal China
  Since the late 1970s, China’s move toward neoliberalism has made it not only 
  one of the world’s fastest growing economies, but also one of the most polarized 
  states. This economic, social, and political transformation has led to the emer-
  gence of a new Chinese middle class, and understanding the development and 
  the role of this new social group is crucial to understanding contemporary 
  Chinese society.
   
  Investigating the new politics of the middle class in China, this book 
  addresses three major questions. First, how does the Chinese state deal with 
  problems of national sovereignty and political representation to create the middle 
  class both as a legitimate category of the people and as an ideal norm of citizen-
  ship? Second, how does the recognition of the middle- class norm take place in 
  the practice of everyday life? Finally, what kind of risks does the politics of the 
  middle class generate not only for middle- class subjects but also fo