1 Deinstitutionalization of the Hukou System and Social Change in China

China’s transition involves the disintegration of some core economic and social institutions, among which the Hukou system (Household Registration System) is the last backbone in the formal institutional composite of the Chinese central planning economy. Hukou as a status symbol has been weaved into the social fabric of daily life in China during the past several decades. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly incompatible with free market economy. This paper attempts to explain its ongoing processes of deinstitutionalization during China’s transition. The system’s legal ambiguity and regional variation make it a very complicated topic for analysis. During the dual transition of industrialization and urbanization, Hukou control has been loosened, and China has entered an era of mass migration. Workplace discrimination against rural migrants is widespread, which incurred more criticism against this system. However, Hukou reform has been in general not only ineffective, but also generated new patterns of inequality during this process. The process of deinstitutionalization include changes not only in the core institution itself, but also in other institutional elements (such as political opportunity structures, market regularities, norms forme