ABSTRACT
Based on the empirical research, this chapter analyzes the current housing situation of residents in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and discusses the relevant influencing factors of the class identity of residents from the perspective of housing quality and symbolic distinction. The integration of the key element of housing as a wealth marker of ordinary residents in the study of the identity of urban residents not only connects the multiple perspectives of structure and psychology, and market and the state in previous class identity study, serving as a kind of “continuum” tool. Housing can be a relatively direct and objective indicator for measuring the influence factors of wealth stratification on the identity of housing residents. The dependent variable is the subjective class identity of urban residents. The independent variables include two broad categories. The first category is “housing quality”. The other category of independent variable is “symbolic distinction”.
