{"product_id":"driving-toward-modernity-9781501738395","title":"Driving toward Modernity","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eDriving toward Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e, Jun Zhang ethnographically explores the entanglement between the rise of the automotive regime and emergence of the middle class in South China. Focusing on the Pearl River Delta, one of the nation''s wealthiest regions, Zhang shows how private cars have shaped everyday middle-class sociality, solidarity, and subjectivity, and how the automotive regime has helped make the new middle classes of the PRC. By carefully analyzing how physical and social mobility intertwines, \u003ci\u003eDriving toward Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e paints a nuanced picture of modern Chinese life, comprising the continuity and rupture as well as the structure and agency of China''s great transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJun Zhang's \u003ci\u003eDriving Toward Modernity: Cars and the Lives of the Middle Class in Contemporary China\u003c\/i\u003e presents an exceptional and fascinating ethnographic study that examines the relationship between the rise of the 'automotive regime' and the (re-)emergence of the middle class.\u003c\/p\u003e * China Information *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis rich ethnography will be a benchmark for any forthcoming scholarly work on car consumption in China. Zhang's ethnographic account of the car-owning mobility of middle-class consumers in southern China represents a major contribution to an important topic in the understanding of contemporary Chinese society.\u003c\/p\u003e * Pacific Affairs *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eList of Figures and Tables\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e List of Abbreviations and Note on Translation\u003cbr\u003e Introduction: A Mobile Lifestyle, A Middle Way of Living\u003cbr\u003e Prologue: From Official Privileges to Consumer Goods\u003cbr\u003e 1. Driving Alone Together: Sociality, Solidarity, and Status\u003cbr\u003e 2. Family Cars, Filial Consumer-Citizens: Becoming Properly Middle Class\u003cbr\u003e 3. The Emerging Middle Class and the Car Market: Mobilities and Trajectories\u003cbr\u003e 4. Car Crash, Class Encounter: Anxiety of Mobility\u003cbr\u003e 5. Bidding for a License Plate: The Importance of Being a Free and Proper Consumer\u003cbr\u003e 6. Parking: Contesting Space in Middle-Class Complexes\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue: Politics of Transformation\u003cbr\u003e Glossary\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e References\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409337459031,"sku":"9781501738395","price":97.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781501738395.jpg?v=1730506469","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/driving-toward-modernity-9781501738395","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}