CONCLUDING REMARKS
As many of the chapters in this volume demonstrate, family and household are important social contexts for studying what choices are available and what actions are possible in the changing context of contemporary China. This chapter employs a general model to guide discussion and analysis of social inequality in China: In the attempts of actors in families and households to invest in and mobilize a variety of resources as human and social capital, and to gain institutional advantages and better returns, which structural factors impose constraints and which afford opportunities? It is clear that state policies have differentially influenced the ability of population groups to make appropriate capitalization and gain returns under prevailing institutions. As these policies change, not only will the types and extent of structural constraints and opportunities change, the social context will likewise change its meaning for individuals attempting to capitalize resources and generate returns.
At the same time, an individual is also bound by social—especially familial—resources and obligations. With regard to investing resources and capital, action will be taken and choices made in the context of these more enduring social relations and networks. Under changing policies, the aim will be to optimize gains for individual actors and, equally important, to maintain returns to these social units as well. How these changes will affect the social construction and meaning of households is an important key to understanding social inequality as China enters the next century.
