SEMINAR: WUN Virtual Seminar: 'Uyghur perceptions of inequality in the context of social change in Xinjiang'

This presentation examines Uyghur subjective class status in Ürümchi, China. Existing studies have identified socioeconomic status and psychological well-being measures as two major determinants of class identification. This study shows that Uyghur ethnic consciousness also affects their choices of class labels. This is partly because Uyghur ethnic consciousness is related to Uyghur-Han inequalities and Uyghurs compare themselves with Han Chinese unfavourably while defining their class positions. Data are drawn from a mass survey (N = 900) conducted in Ürümchi in 2007.

Xiaowei Zang worked in Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong before joining the University of Sheffield as the Head of the School of East Asian Studies in 2008. His research interests lie in the fields of Chinese politics, ethnicity, gender, and social networks. He has received a number of research grants from the University of California at Berkeley, Flinders University of South Australia, City University of Hong Kong, and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong.

Professor Zang is the book series editor for Routledge Studies on Ethnicity in Asia and a member of the Editorial Boards of Sociological Focus and The Open Political Science Journal in the USA.