Social Origins and Political Participation of Private Entrepreneurs in Beijing

Dr Björn Alpermann explores political attitudes and participation of business people in China.

It is an often observed fact that private entrepreneurs emerging as a social group in China today have close links with the party-state: many are former cadres and current members of the Chinese Communist Party. The question more rarely pursued is what effect these links have on the political attitudes and participation of private business people. This presentation explores this question on the basis of data gathered in a representative survey of Beijing private enterprises in 2006.

Dr Björn Alpermann is lecturer in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Cologne in Germany and currently a visiting scholar at the Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley. This research was conducted in collaboration with Gang Shuge, associate professor at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

Discussant: Kevin, O'Brien, Professor, Political Science, UCB