Communist Party Recruitment and Social Stratification in Urban China, 1960-2008

by
Bingdao, Zheng
Division of Social Science, HKUST

Abstract:
Using life history data from a nationally representative 2008 survey of urban Chinese working adults,
this paper researched the recruitment process into the Communist Party as well as the entry into elite
occupations for people coming from different political status. Although the general aspiration of joining
the Party has been declining over time, people with better education and family background have been
always and increasingly willing to join the Party. By contrast, only in the Mao-era, the Communist Party
had showed their discriminations toward intellectuals and beaten-down family children. Since the end of
the Cultural Revolution the Communist Party had not displayed any systematic preference for their
members. This mobilizing and recruiting strategy makes up different natures of party membership over
time: It was a political credential resulting from Party’s screening before, and it has now become a
signal of self selection. The analysis of entry into elite occupations confirms this conclusion by showing
that although party members have been maintaining their dominance in the elite occupations, their
advantages were no longer due to party membership per se.