Poverty Dynamics and the Linkages to Labour
Market and Welfare Reforms in Urban China
Dr Heather Zhang, University of Leeds, UK
Prof. Laihua Wang, Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, China
Paper presented at UK Development Studies Association Annual
Conference, Institute of Education, London 3 November 2012
OUTLINE
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Research problem and objectives
Methodology
Preliminary findings
Theoretical reflections
Research Problem and Research Objectives (1)
• Increasing scholarly attention to the phenomenon of
‘new urban poverty’ in China in the past decade and
more (cf., e.g. Guan, 1999; Lin, 2007; Solinger, 2002;
Tang, et al. 2003)
• Research on the dynamics of poverty is limited
– Fulong Wu, et al. (2010, Urban poverty in China) explore China’s
dynamic urban poverty landscape in the context of city sprawl,
urbanisation, land requisition from perspectives of property
rights and entitlements
– Simon Appleton, et al. (2009, Growing out of poverty: Trends
and patterns of urban poverty in China 1988-2002, World
Development) Employ quantitative research method to estimate
the trends in urban absolute poverty using the Chinese
Household Income Project survey data 1988-2002.
Research Problem and Research Objectives (2)
• The central concerns of the research
– Individuals and families falling into poverty and the possibility of
escaping it over time
– The possibility of poverty transmission across generations, or
intergenerational poverty and upward/downward social
mobility
• Aims and objectives
– To explore fresh theoretical and methodological approaches to
the study of poverty and inequality in urban China
– To contribute to scholarship, and academic and policy debate in
the field
Methodology and Data（1）
• Applying qualitative longitudinal research methodology and a
dynamic approach to the study of poor families in two
communities in Tianjin
– One author conducted extensive fieldwork between 2002-03, visiting,
observing and interviewing nine poor families who were on income
support, or the minimum livelihood guarantee (dibao) scheme
– The other author carried out follow-up research six years later near the
end of 2008, successfully tracing seven of the nine families, and
intensively interviewed the same key informants and their family
members
– Combining qualitative longitudinal research with other qualitative
methods of social inquiry, e.g. ethnographic fieldwork, observations,
unstructured interviews, focus group, site visits (to households and
local communities), etc.
Methodology and Data（2）
• Wider background of the research
– The first investigation conducted in 2002/3 coincided with the
systematic rolling-out of the dibao scheme in Tianjin in the wake of
massive layoffs caused by enterprise restructuring and the sharp rise
in unemployment, poverty, and people’s increased sense of risk and
insecurity in this large industrial city
– The follow-up investigation near the end of 2008 witnessed the most
intensive public policy interventions by the central and local state in
response to the serious challenge to Chinese economy and society
caused by the severe global financial crisis
• Situating our micro-level research and individuals’
experiences in the broader context allows us
– to avoid an individualistic explanation
– to examine larger forces (e.g. globalisation, neo-liberalisation, social
policy interventions) at work in giving rise to the phenomenon and its
dynamics
Methodology and Data（3）
• Qualitative longitudinal research methodology
– A temporal dimension
– A dynamic approach
– Generating close-ups of lives and experiences of individuals and
groups in real time
– Analysing individuals’ experiences against a broader background of
historical and socio-economic change, and examining the impact of
larger social forces on individuals’ livelihood trajectories
• Avoid an ‘individualised’ approach (e.g. the suzhi discourse), and take account of
both institutional mechanisms and individual agency
– Generate rich, detailed, textured data and produce nuanced
understandings and deep insights
– Has considerable explanatory power
Preliminary Findings（1）
• Data analysis thus far reveals
– None of the seven poor families whom we managed to
trace in 2008 was on dibao any more
– On surface, this was due to
• Children finished high/technical school or university and found
jobs
• One spouse found formal/informal employment
• Retirement of one spouse, and thus family receiving pension
income
• Death of the seriously-ill family member
Profiles of Informants on dibao Benefit (2002/03)
Name
Gender
Age
Qi
M
52
Han
F
Wang
Education
Year of layoff
Family size
University diploma
1991
3
48
Junior high school
2002
3
F
41
Senior high school
2000
3
Liu
M
48
Junior high school
2000
3
Gu
F
47
University diploma
2000
2
Zhu
F
42
University diploma
1997
2
Feng
F
38
Senior high school
1999
3
Hua
F
41
Technical school
1999
3
Xiao
F
40
Junior high school
1992
2
Wang, an unemployed worker with her husband (December 2008)
Preliminary Findings（2）
• However, it does not mean that all the families
escaped poverty
– Those still struggling near the poverty line
• Family member suffered from serious chronic health
problems
• Female-headed/divorced single mother household
– Most families, even though no longer on
dibao, were still vulnerable to external
shocks and have relatively low resilience
Healthcare expenses 2004-7 for one seriously ill interviewee from a
poor family (December 2008)
Identifying mechanisms and contributing
factors (1)
• Urban enterprise restructuring and employment
policies
• The transformation of danwei and the reform of
the socialist welfare system
• Increasing globalisation
• Unemployment and the change in occupational
identity and social status
• Pressure and stress caused by fierce competition
and widening inequality in a market economy
• Broken social contract
Identifying mechanisms and contributing
factors (2)
• Public policy interventions – policy matters
– 2002/3’s investigation: systematic rolling-out of dibao and other
social assistance schemes, implementation of employment and reemployment policies in Tianjin
– 2008’s follow-up research: a wide range of public policy
interventions implemented in between the years, which were
intensified in 2008 amid the global financial crisis (the Chinese
government’s four trillion RMB stimulus package announced on 9
November 2008 investing heavily in infrastructure and social
welfare), e.g. policies that give the 40-50 cohort re-employment
priorities (40-50优先就业), the ‘government paying bill’ policy
(‘政府买单’), encouraging flexible employment (灵活就业),
emphasising full social insurance coverage (社保全覆盖), etc.
Academic debates surrounding dibao and urban
poverty in post-reform China
• Dorathy Solinger (The dibao recipients: Modified anti-emblem of urban
modernisation; China Perspectives, 2008 No. 4: 36-47; Solinger & Hu,
Yiyang, Welfare, Wealth and Poverty in Urban China: The Dibao and Its
Differential Disbursement, The China Quarterly, 2012, Vol. 211: 741-764)
• Mun Young Cho (On the edge between ‘the people’ and ‘the population’:
Ethnographic research on the minimum livelihood guarantee, The China
Quarterly, 2010 Vol. 201: 20-37)
• The existing English literature tends to apply a structuralist perspective
– dibao recipients portrayed as victims of market reforms vs. active agents of
change
• dibao tends to be discarded as
– a control mechanism used by the state towards its citizens
– an ineffective remedy prescribed by an ailing regime
– a stigmatising label and a humiliating experience for its recipients
• Some exceptions
– Daniel Hammond (2011), Social Assistance in China 1993-2002: Institutions,
feedback and policy actors in the Chinese policy process, Asian Politics and
Policy 3(1): 69-93
Aspects neglected in current research and debates
• The dynamics of dibao
– An essential component of China’s developing and
evolving institutions of social security and welfare system
• The comprehensiveness of dibao
– An important part of China’s comprehensive social
assistance system
• The non-monetary aspects of dibao
• The perspectives and understandings of the
individuals and families on dibao benefit with
respect to its roles and significance
• Theoretical relevance
Some theoretical reflections
• We intend to explore
– Theoretical explanations of poverty dynamics in urban
China
• unilateral breach of social contract through rewriting the existing
‘terms and conditions’ vs. the ‘unlucky generation’ explanations
– Theories on social change, social stratification and mobility
(cf. Xiaogang Wu & Donald J. Treiman, 2007, Inequality and
equality under Chinese socialism: The hukou system and
intergenerational occupational mobility, AJS; Yanjie Bian,
2002, Chinese social stratification and social mobility, Annu.
Rev. Sociol., etc.)
– Ralf Dahrendorf ‘s idea of citizenship and life chances (1959
– Class and class conflict in industrial society; 1979 – Life
Chances: Approaches to social and political theory, 1988 –
The modern social contract: An essay on the politics of
liberty, 2008 – The modern social conflict)