Dual institutional structure and housing inequality in transitional urban China

• We develop a dual structure model on distinct housing inequality patterns in urban China.
• Redistributive practices and market mechanisms coexist to affect housing allocation.
• Market mechanisms play an increasingly important role in housing stratification.
• Socialist legacy and redistributive practices remain crucial in housing inequality.
• Individual attributes, work units, and market development exert distinct impacts on state-channeled vs. market-based housing rewards.

Enriching the Asian perspectives in the research of social stratification, this study sheds light on distinct housing inequality patterns after housing was transformed from the most important welfare benefit to the most valuable private property in the late 1990s in urban China. We develop a theoretical model of the dual institutional structure to highlight that housing allocation mechanisms are characterized by coexistence of socialist legacy and market logic. We draw empirical evidence from the 2003 Chinese General Social Survey data to capture the critical period following the radical housing reform. Statistical results show that individual attributes, work unit characteristics, and market development exert distinct impacts on state-channeled housing benefits and market-based housing rewards under the dual institutional structure. These findings indicate that we should conduct substantive institutional analyses to achieve a deeper understanding of complex stratification mechanisms and inequality patterns during the market transition.