ABSTRACT
This chapter examines heterogeneity among China’s housing-status groups, which includes varied lifestyles and consumption patterns and differentiated social relations, as well as diversified social attitudes and group interests. Despite some shared consumption patterns such as housing and education expenses, stratified consumption of leisure activities, which is considered a marker for structural class formation, does not have a bonding effect. In fact, there exists a bifurcation of consumption patterns largely determined by the fact that the “within the system” groups rely more on the material benefits provided by their work units, while those outside the system rely more on the open market for their consumption. This chapter suggests that at present, China’s urban housing-status groups are more a divided than a coherent middle class. Although they may share certain broad interests such as housing consumption and investment in children’s education, they have varied lifestyles and diversified identities.
