Leading scholars visit UOW to compare China and India

Aug 16, 2006

The University of Wollongong's Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS) last week (Friday 11 August) hosted a number of leading Chinese and Indian scholars to explore the theme of the middle classes in a workshop titled: "The Political Economy of Development in Asia: Comparing the Chinese and Indian Middle Classes".

Organised by Senior Visiting Fellow in CAPSTRANS, Professor Xiaobo Hu (Clemson University, USA) the purpose of the workshop was to address seminal and timely issues of the middle class in Asia by examining the dynamic relationship between the middle class and the state in face of modernization, privatization, and globalisation.

Assembling two distinctive groups of experts together, the workshop reviewed existing literature, shared new findings and insights, and developed common themes for meaningful comparison.

The participants focussed on such questions as how the middle classes develop (or not so) in response to the state policies and what impacts their relationship with the state has on political and economic reforms.

Issues for discussion included those concerning the middle classes themselves - i.e. their origins, their interests and value systems, conflict of subgroup interests and conflict of identities - as well as those related to redistributive politics, resource allocation, civil society, globalisation and regional cooperation.

The workshop also focussed on development of solid research papers for a collected volume or special issue of a journal. The findings will be especially important for those wishing to know more about issues concerning middle class consumption, gender relations, and employment concerns.

Presentations were given by Pro Vice-Chancellor International from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Professor David Goodman, Chair of International Studies at Deakin University, Professor Baogang He, Deputy Director of CAPSTRANS, Dr Tim Scrase, Associate Professor Kate Hannan (History and Politics, UOW), Senior Lecturer in Sociology at UOW, Dr Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase, Director of the Institute for International Studies at UTS, Professor Stephanie Donald and Associate Professor Peter Mayer (Politics, University of Adelaide).