ABSTRACT
The emergence of specialized and key households has expanded decentralized management and investment into an enormous range of economic activity. It is important to clarify the diverse character of modes of production and management among specialized households. The most common type are fully independent, self-managing households, which utilize their own labor and capital and are entirely responsible for their own profits and losses. In contrast with this group of fully independent, self-managing households is a second group of specialized households who have signed agreements with collectives to manage particular projects utilizing the collective’s land or other means of production. To deal with the concerns about what was being perceived as a polarization into exploiting and exploited classes, a survey of 20,989 key and specialized households who had become “rich” was conducted in Ying county in Shanxi province.
