Jean-Louis Rocca's admirably concise A Sociology of Modern China wears its scholarship lightly and paints an intimate and complex portrait of Chinese society, all the while avoiding clichés and simplifications. He delves into China's history and examines the country's many different social strata so as to better understand the enormous challenges and opportunities with which its people are confronted. After discussing the long march toward reform and the crises along the way - among them the 1989 protests which culminated in the events in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere - Rocca dedicates the second half of the book to the major questions facing the country (or, at the very least, its political elites) today: new forms of social stratification; the interaction between the market and the state; growing individualism; and the pressures exerted by social conflict and political change. In eschewing culturalist visions, Rocca thoroughly and successfully deconstructs received wisdom about Chinese society to reveal a thriving nation and its people.

Jean-Louis Rocca is a sociologist, Professor and Researcher at CERI Sciences-Po in Paris and at Tsingshua University in Beijing.

Introduction Orthodox Thinking Culturalist Impasses The Impasses of Transitionalism A Critical Reflection 1. Historical Trajectory Before the Revolution A Grey Page New Solidarities: Towns and Cities New Solidarities: The Countryside The Tragic Failure of Totalitarianism 2. The Long March of Reforms The Mutual Formation of the State and Market A Marginal Capitalism (197991) The Time of Fractures (19922007) 3. A New Society The Conditions of Social Mobility The Morphology of Chinese Society The Dangers of Imbalances The Ideal Class 4. A Society of Individuals in a Time of Reforms A Society of Subjects of their Own Existence Effects of Fashion Social Anxiety Sex and Marriage in the (Chinese) City Children 5. The Political Puzzle A Moderate Pluralism The Internet Revolution and its Limits Elections and Electors A Thermidorian and Technocratic Elite Social Protect Intellectuals in No Man's Land Creating a Middle-Class China: A Source of Conflicts Identities and Nation Conservative Democracy Conclusion Elements of Genealogy All is Well Modernisation is not a Gala Dinner Conservatism and Representation Select Bibliography