From Growth to Security: The Formation, Differences and Changes in the Class Identification of Chinese Market Elites

Abstract: A consideration of market elites’ class identification is essential for understanding the power shift within China’s market system. On reviewing data from the 2013–21 waves of the Chinese General Social Survey, the findings reveal a declining trend in market elites’ class identification in recent years. Over time, the contribution of income to market elites’ class identification has diminished, while the influence of social security has increased. Geographically, in areas characterised by high levels of market closure, the effect of income on market elites’ class identification weakens, whereas the impact of social security intensifies. These findings broaden scholarly knowledge of market elites by expanding the consideration from objective status to subjective attitudes, thereby enhancing the understanding of China’s social transformation.