The Subsistence Logic of the Weak:A Study of Disadvantaged Groups in Urban China

Based on field research and a number of personal interviews in China (mostly in Beijing and Anhui), this study attempts to explore the conditions of China‘s ―urban disadvantaged groups‖ (chengshi ruoshi qunti). It addresses four questions. How should we define and classify this social category in China today? How did urban disadvantaged groups take shape under the impact of the market reform? How has the Chinese government handled this potentially explosive social issue? How do the urban disadvantaged people struggle to survive in the highly competitive market economy? We argue that aside from depending on the government‘s assistance and social security system, China‘s urban disadvantaged groups have exhibited an amazing ability of survival by exploiting the flaws and loopholes of the changing social and economic system. To the extent that they are compelled to seek illegitimate and illegal means for survival, the government fails to fulfill its responsibility and thus has to take a lenient or tacit approach, which in turn encourages and gives rise to various survival strategies. Many of these strategies, if not illegal, exist in a grey area between legal and illegal.