Middle Income Strata on the Move Family, Lifestyle and Sustainability in Contemporary China
Successful research workshop on Middle Strata on the Move took place at December 14th to 15ths in the new SDC Building in the Eastern Yangihu Campus, Beijing. The workshop crossed various scholarly specializations and added significant new perspectives to an up and coming field of research relevant for China and the rest of the world!
The focus of this workshop was on the emerging middle income strata in China and aimed at exploring vital dynamics in the current historical moment marked by intense entanglements of local, regional and global forces and identities. The workshop adressed central trends in the economic and social fields of class and gender as intersecting with family, entrepreneurship, age, marriage, housing, consumption and mobility. Besides the workshop created synergies between vital but so far divided fields of research in social and material innovations and in exploring potentials and challenges facing the middle strata in China today.
Workshop Location
The workshop took place at the new SDC Building, in the Eastern Yanqihu campus, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing. The newly inaugurated building has been designed by Danish architects and financed by The Danish Industry Federation. It offers a convenient conference site, with guest house, restaurant and accommodation facilities in a stunning area close to the Great Wall.
Participants
The participants consisted in distinguished junior and senior scholars from China and the Nordic countries who are specializing in various themes related to the Chinese middle strata.
Organizers
The Department of Sociology and the Co-ordination for Gender Studies, University of Copenhagen with financial support from the Sino Danish Centre in Beijing. SDC http://sdc.university/. The workshop continued and deepened the lively co-operation between University of Copenhagen and Chinese institutions in recent years, including joined seminars and summer-schools at Fudan, PKU, CASS and at the Department of Sociology at University of Copenhagen.
Outcome: A scholarly anthology is planned for 2018.