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Spatial Segregation and Social Differentiation of the Minority Nationalities from the Han Majority in the People's Republic of China
Author(s) -
Poston Dudley L.,
Micklin Michael
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1993.tb00301.x
Subject(s) - residence , china , census , sociology , geography , population , differentiation , demography , economic geography , socioeconomics , gender studies , social science , archaeology
One of sociological human ecology's classic hypotheses posits the existence of a positive relationship between social status and residence. The more similar the social characteristics of two populations, the greater their degree of residential propinquity. This study examines that hypothesis with data for the Han majority and each of the fifty‐five minority nationalities enumerated in the 1982 Census of the People's Republic of China. We find support for the hypothesis when we use a segregation measure that reflects the degree of unevenness of the residential distribution of a minority population from the Han. The paper also addresses the implications of these findings for the social and economic development of the Chinese minorities.