Uyghur Support for Economic Justice in Ürümchi

There has been little research conducted on economic beliefs among Uyghurs in Xinjiang, although they are part of the reason Uyghurs have developed feelings of relative deprivation and unfairness. Do most Uyghurs support economic individualism, which holds that the poor are responsible for their misfortunes, economic inequality is good, and the government should not interfere in the economy? Or do they endorse economic communitarianism, which holds that the government shall provide for the poor and reduce inequality via intervention? Are there some people in the Uyghur community who are more economically communitarian than others? Are Uyghur economic beliefs related to the usual socio-demographic measures such as age, sex, education, occupational attainment and income? Is there a religious influence on Uyghur economic attitudes? If not, how can Uyghur economic preferences be accounted for? This paper addresses these questions using data from a survey conducted in Ürümchi in 2007. It shows that the vast majority of Uyghurs endorse economic communitarianism. In addition to Islamic orthodoxy, Uyghur consciousness is related to this endorsement. However, Uyghur socioeconomic status is not correlated with their economic preferences. This is partly because Uyghur-Han inequality affects Uyghur attitudes more than intra-group differentiation in social status among Uyghurs.

烏魯木齊維吾爾人對經濟公正的支持

在已有文獻中對維吾爾人經濟觀的研究甚少，儘管這是使維吾爾人日益感到被相對剝奪及不公正對待的原因之一。維吾爾人是否支持經濟個人主義，認為貧窮者應為自己的不幸負責？貧富不均是否是好事？政府是否不應干涉經濟？他們是否贊成經濟社群主義， 即政府應該為貧窮者提供援助並通過政府干預減少貧富不均？在維吾爾人中誰更傾向於經濟社群主義？維吾爾人的經濟觀念是否與通常的社會人口學變量如年齡、性別、受教育程度、職業選擇及收入相關？宗教是否對維吾爾人的經濟觀念有影響？如果宗教不是主要因素之一，那麽是什麽使維吾爾人的經濟觀念有所不同？本文試圖使用於2007年在烏魯木齊對900人所做的調查所獲取的數據回答上述問題。本文顯示，大多數的維吾爾人支持經濟社群主義。除了伊斯蘭教的正統信念外，維吾爾人的觀念與他們對經濟社群主義的支持有關。但是，維吾爾人的社會經濟地位與他們的經濟觀念並不相對應。 這一部分是由於維吾爾穆斯林作為一個被統治的群體遭受了新疆的種族不平等。在維吾爾人的經濟觀念話語中，種族不平等是比維吾爾人之間的社會分層更重要的因素。

Translated from English by Xin Huang