ABSTRACT
In Shanghai economic independence from the state has failed to produce politically active civil society. There is little evidence that the middle class and private wealth in Shanghai is contributing to either liberal or leftist trajectories for civil society development. This chapter examines how differing values, social inequalities, and interest conflicts inhibit the development of politically articulate civil society in the business-friendly environment of Shanghai. The developments in Shanghai challenge the expectation that the developments of private business and of civil society are mutually reinforcing. The case of Shanghai shows that China studies have been preoccupied with finding any type of social space that is not engineered by the state to ponder what actually happens within this social space. China studies should develop more nuanced understanding about the ways civil society and the business sector interact. Apart from the possibility of a mutually beneficial expansion of social space, civil society and private businesses can have separate and even conflictual trajectories.
