Rising powers: Social equality forum China: Focus group transcripts 2013

Munro, Neil and White, Stephen (2020). Rising powers: Social equality forum China: Focus group transcripts 2013. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-852589

Taken together, Russia and China account for 41 per cent of the total territory of the BRICs and 63 per cent of their GDP/PPP. On Goldman Sachs projections China will be the world’s largest economy by 2050, and Russia its sixth largest. The project will seek to examine the following propositions: (1) that these two BRIC countries are becoming increasingly unequal; (2) that within them, political power and economic advantage are increasingly closely associated; (3) that their political systems have increasingly been employed to ensure that no effective challenge can be mounted to that combination of government position and economic advantage; (4) that set against a broader comparative perspective, an increasingly unequal society in which government is effectively immune from conventional challenge is likely to become increasingly regressive, or unstable, or both. Evidence will be drawn from official statistics, interviews with policy specialists and government officials, two dozen focus groups, and an analysis of the composition of the management boards of the largest companies in both countries. A final part of the analysis will employ crossnational evidence to test a series of hypotheses relating to the association between inequality and political instability on a more broadly comparative basis.

Data description (abstract)

This data set consists of transcripts from 10 focus group discussions on themes related to social equality in China. The focus group discussions were conducted by Horizon Research Consultancy using a discussion guide written by the Investigators. They were held in nine cities chosen to represent east, west and south China, including 4 provincial capitals: Beijing, Changsha, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, and 5 prefecture level cities: Baoding, Fuzhou, Luoyang, Mianyang, and Suzhou. The respondents included a mix of ages, genders, blue and white collar workers, and included at least one migrant (from another province) in each focus group. Separate focus group discussions were held for respondents with mainly urban hukou (residence registration) and for respondents with mainly rural hukou. There were two discussions in Guangzhou, one for each residence registration category. The focus groups in Baoding and Suzhou were held only for respondents age 18-29. Further details of recruitment and stratification are given in the documentation. The focus group discussions dealt with household and national economic change, perceptions of social fairness, and welfare values. Specifically, respondents were asked about the state of the national and local economies, their household economy, how they define rich and poor people and how they position themselves in relation to these categories. They were asked about whether they perceived differences in wealth between individuals, regions and between urban and rural areas as fair, and whether such differences are increasing or decreasing. Finally they were asked about whether the rich should take more responsibility for the welfare of the poor, about their own personal responsibility and that of the state and businesses. Prior to taking part in the focus group discussions, participants completed a screening questionnaire, which also served to collect basic information, including gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, level of education, self-assessed adequacy of income, occupation, hukou, property ownership and type of neighbourhood. The screening questionnaire and information on participants are included. The transcripts are provided in English and Chinese. The Chinese text was transcribed by Horizon from audio files by someone familiar with the local dialect. The English translations were done by a native English speaker with help from a Chinese assistant. The participants are identified in the transcripts by a seat number, which corresponds to the information on participants in the Excel files. Where individuals' names were disclosed in the discussion, these have been replaced by their seat number. A set of brief notes from the translator is included. A parallel set of focus group discussions was held in Russia and is available as the collection Social Equality Forum Russia: Focus Group Transcripts (see Related Resources).

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