ABSTRACT
Stratification, first of all, means the existence of disparities among different groups of people. 1 The order of stratification and the relationships among dominant social groups have changed during the reform process in China. The recent differentiation is a result of the transition to market patterns, a growing social division of labor, social differentiation, disparities in income, and the opportunities offered by private entrepreneurship. Making use of market possibilities, market gaps, disparities in income due to legal, illegal, crypto-private, or hidden economic activities are the reasons for the growing disparities. In rural areas much higher incomes in the nonagricultural sector simultaneously increase the disparities in terms of earnings and living standard. The growing stratification has not only economic consequences but also social, political, and psychological ones. The market has created new sources of power that are just barely becoming obvious in economic life. Stratification and disparity are no longer the result of just political criteria, for example, party membership, class origin, and cadre rank, but also of economic factors. Economic success increasingly leads to an ascent in social hierarchy that in former times was possible only by means of political connections. Thus, party membership is losing its importance; the significance of political capital is decreasing.
