ABSTRACT
Shanghai’s middle-income group has risen and expanded rapidly, playing an important role in shaping Shanghai’s social structure, lifestyle, consumption concepts, value orientation, and so forth. Shanghai’s urban middle-income group generally has a better evaluation of their economic situation. The difference between Shanghai and Beijing in the scale of white-collar workers and the middle-income group is directly related to population structure, education level and the development of the tertiary industry. The vast majority of middle-income group members have a high level of education that enables them to engage in jobs demanding high professional skills or in emerging industries. Although the middle-income group has a strong desire for green food consumption, they have a somewhat conservative attitude toward another sustainable consumer product, namely new energy vehicles. The life satisfaction and subjective identity of the middle-income group reflect the subjective welfare of the group, which has an important impact on their enthusiasm for production and consumption and expectations of future life.
