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Privatization, Marketization, and Deprivation: Interpreting the Homeownership Paradox in Postreform Urban China

Author

Listed:
  • Guo Chen

    (Department of Geography and Global Urban Studies Program, Michigan State University, 211 Geography Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

Abstract

The paper examines the nature of the housing predicaments faced by China's urban poor since the advent of pro-ownership housing marketization in the 1990s. It is argued that housing deprivation in today's urban China is a complex problem which is difficult to disentangle based solely on the material outcomes of housing distribution and housing inequalities. Therefore, an integrative framework is proposed to examine the issue from the perspective of structure–agency interaction. Statistical methods are employed to identify the concrete market and nonmarket factors which constrain the housing decisions of Nanjing's poor families, based on census and household-survey data. Qualitative interviews are then utilized to help reconstruct and interpret different storylines of homeownership transition under the identified constraints. Findings suggest that the ownership-based housing model has been promoted among the poor in exploitative ways, which has resulted in profound deprivation—for both poor owners and nonowners. Alternative, nonownership housing options are urgently needed to address the problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Guo Chen, 2011. "Privatization, Marketization, and Deprivation: Interpreting the Homeownership Paradox in Postreform Urban China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(5), pages 1135-1153, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:43:y:2011:i:5:p:1135-1153
    DOI: 10.1068/a43444
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fulong Wu & Shenjing He, 2005. "Changes In Traditional Urban Areas And Impacts Of Urban Redevelopment: A Case Study Of Three Neighbourhoods In Nanjing, China," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 96(1), pages 75-95, February.
    2. Xiaogang Wu & Donald Treiman, 2004. "The household registration system and social stratification in China: 1955–1996," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(2), pages 363-384, May.
    3. Donggen Wang & Si-Ming Li, 2004. "Housing Preferences in a Transitional Housing System: The Case of Beijing, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(1), pages 69-87, January.
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