Poverty and Shame in a Rapidly Transforming China Ming Yan Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Oxford, UK March 1, 2012

Background Study background – Urban poverty in China – Economic reform and shift of welfare provision – Layoff of industrial workers during the State- Owned-Enterprises (SOEs)’ restructuring from mid-1990s to mid-2000s Focus-group interviews – with men and women – group differences in terms of age cohort and socio- economic status – to gain an understanding of the views of those not living in poverty on those in poverty.

Meanings of Poverty Shift from absolute to relative poverty Types and levels of economic difficulties – Unemployment – Food and clothing – Housing – Medical expenses – Children’s needs

Impact of Poverty/Economic Disparity On Family – debts – Strained marital relationships – Men vs. women – Social interaction – Children On Society: social unrest

Examples of Shame Losing face, being looked down upon, lower self-esteem While children from families of high socio- economic standings are more aggressive and arrogant, children from poor families get easily bullied by other children Social occasions such as old school-class reunions can be occasions of feeling ashamed

Social Assistance: Deserving Vs. Undeserving Poor Deserving poor: Those with disabilities or illness, so with no ability to work Undeserving poor – Able-bodies too lazy to work (e.g. Beijingers concerned about loosing face) – Former prison inmates receiving MSLS – Professional beggars

A co-worker of her mother struggled because her husband had a serious illness and her son had learning disabilities. All the co-workers were very sympathetic toward her situation and donated money several times for her. Later on, however, as her family situation improved, she began to wear nice clothes and even expensive jewelleries, which antagonized the colleagues who had helped her. They felt she should have used the money on improving the life chances of the family rather than on present material comfort, e.g. sending her son to a better school of some sort…… 25 years old, female, graduate student

Causes of Poverty Individual factors: health, education, skills, chances Structural factors: SOE restructuring, government policy, redistributive mechanisms, “connections” Variation of responses has to do with: Socio- economic status & personal experiences