Customer Reviews

Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dickson's analysis of the rise of the entrepreneurial class, the expansion of privitization, and these factors' possibility for change provides and insightful consideration of capitalism vis-a-vis civil society in China. Though admittedly academic, this sociological examination on how the CCP and the rising capitalists interact and ultimately work to benefit one another. You will need some background in both sociology (or at least a vague understanding of what civil society is) and current Chinese trends. With these two things at your disposal, this book is rather informative.

You will either hate this book, or love it. If you do not like statistical data, its analysis, and empirical conclusion based on the former two, then this book is not for you.

Additionally, this book requires that you possess background knowledge in the subject, otherwise you will often find yourself lost.

However, if you are a scholar interested in the subject, you will love this book. I found this book to be an excellent tool in empirically showing the effects of Deng Xiaoping Thought and its subsequent implementation into Chinese policy. The author also does a good job in sticking to the data given, without making empty assumptions.

Every Modern China scholar must read this.

I gave this book 5 stars based on a scholarly view. If this review was based on a non-scholarly view, I would have to give it a 3.

This book is difficult to follow because it is written in the format of an academic student's report. Little background knowledge is given, so a person unfamiliar with Chinese politics could easily get lost. I felt more like I was reading a high school report put together primarily for the benefit of the author.

Unless you are very familiar with the Communist Party of China's organization, this book is not very good to start out with if you are interested in learning about China's new economy.

Much of this book is devoted to examining whether the rise of an entrepreneurial class will create pressures for political reform. It does a decent job of answering the rather narrow question it asks - it shows that entrepreneurs aren't advocating much reform. But this is a disappointingly limited subset of the ways in which capitalism could be producing pressure for reform. For example, increased competition between news media could make reporters more aggressive at discussing controversial subjects, or the internet could make it easier to organize political movements.