Routledge The New Rich in Asia: Mobile Phones, McDonald's and Middle Class Revolution (New Rich in Asia Series)

This is the first volume in the The New Rich in Asia series which examines the economic, social and political construction of the 'new rich' in the countries and territories of East and South East Asia, as well as their impact internationally. From a western perspective the rise of the emergent business and professional class may seem very familiar. However, it is far from clear that those newly enriched by the processes of modernization in East and South East Asia are readily comparable with the middle classes of the West. For example, civil and human rights seem to play a different role in social, political and economic change, and the State is clearly more central as an agent of economic development. This volume is the essential introduction to the series, and identifies the 'new rich' phenomenon in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The contributors demonstrate that the key to understanding the 'new rich' is to realise that they are neither a single category or class, but in each setting a series of different socio-political groups who have a common inheritance from the process of rapid economic growth. Review ..."this is a very important collection. It lies at the heart of the primary contradiction in East Asian studies.... This book is an excellent demonstration of why we still need area studies." -Chalmers Johnson, "Journal of Asian Studies "This book may be of interest primarily to social scientists, but the general or business reader...will be stimulated by reading about the relationship between the new rich and the other forces that constrain political and social action in Asia. The careful reader will learn about the economic diversity of the Asian world, its agendas, priorities, and history, and thereafter be hesitant to conclude that Asian consumers of mobile phones, MTV, and Big Macs are, after all, just like us." -New Asia Pacific Review "For students of the politics of economic devlopment in the Asia region, this is a long awaited book.... The contributors to the book, who are mostly country specialists, offer up-to-date and detailed empirical studies ofcountries which have been undergoing rapid economic and political transformation." -"Pacific Review