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Symbolic Interaction and Transformation of Class Structure: The Case of China
Author(s) -
Chang Johannes HanYin
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2000.23.3.223
Subject(s) - explanatory power , symbolic interactionism , epistemology , marxist philosophy , sociology , social stratification , class formation , class (philosophy) , meaning (existential) , social science , positive economics , context (archaeology) , political science , economics , geography , law , politics , philosophy , archaeology
So far, research on the shaping and change of class stratification has remained a territory for Marxist and Weberian scholars and, to a lesser degree, for functionalist scholars. The outcome in the explanatory domain is the production of a tremendous amount of knowledge concerning the relevance of structural conditions and power. Unfortunately, however, the significance of meaning as an independent explanatory variable has been neglected. This article attempts to tackle the neglected dimension empirically, using a revised macro‐level symbolic interactionist approach. Its objectives are twofold: to reveal the crucial impact of meaning on the radical change of class structure in the context of China's economic reform and to demonstrate the potential of symbolic interactionism for studying macro‐level sociological phenomena such as class stratification.