Tran Thi Que (2014) Gender inequality and wealth inequality in access to funds

'In order to satisfy the demand for funds, the government furnishes credits to households through the Vietnamese Bank of Agriculture (VBA)... [M]ore than 90 per cent of loans are given to men, and households of the upper middle-strata are the dominant borrowers.

Apart from the Vietnamese Bank of Agriculture, there are share banks and credit cooperatives. Their loan facilities, however, are small and the interest charged is much higher than that of the VBA. Again, poor households and women have difficulties in borrowing from these financial organizations.

In some cases, credits from international organizations are quite attractive to Vietnamese because these organizations follow simple and flexible rules... These credits certainly favour women, but they reach neither poor households nor households in the mountains and remote areas.

Since most poor households have no access to official credits, they are forced to borrow from the informal credit system at very high interest rates... Most borrowers in this category are women, although many men also have to borrow on these terms in order to cover expenses for gambling or drinking.'

Tran Thi Que (2014) Gender Issues in Vietnam's Development, in Carolyn Gates, Irene Noerlund, Vu Cao Dam (Eds.) Vietnam in a Changing World Link

Victor T. King, Phuong An Nguyen, Nguyen Huu Minh (2008) State-friendly 'middle class'

'State-led modernisation in Vietnam has created a middle class, the majority of whose members currently share a set of interests and political commitments, which are closely associated with the government.'

Victor T. King, Phuong An Nguyen, Nguyen Huu Minh (2008) Professional Middle Class Youth in Post-Reform Vietnam: Identity, Continuity and Change Link

Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1979) Saigon

'Cách 1126km về phía nam, thành phố Hồ Chí Minh không ngủ cả đêm, giống như sấm rền liên tục. Đó là một thành phố lớn, năng động và nguy hiểm, với gần 4 triệu dân, những người lang thang trên phố nhiều giờ liền bởi vì họ chẳng có gì để làm. Trái với Hà Nội, đây là một cảng miền nam, nơi cuộc sống luôn trong tình trạng hốt hoảng vì người đi xe đạp vô ý trên phố, tiếng động cơ xe máy không thể chịu nổi và tiếng còi ô tô đang cố len lỏi trên con đường đầy người. Chính cảm giác này đã khiến nhà văn Graham Greene tự hỏi Chúa ở đâu trong thành phố quỷ quái này, còn tôi tự hỏi chính phủ có vai trò gì. Thị trường chợ đen bùng phát khắp mọi nơi. Thuốc lá Mỹ, sôcôla Anh và nước hoa Pháp được bày bán đầy trên những chiếc bàn nhỏ khập khiễng ven đường.

Vào chiều tối, thanh niên Sài Gòn tập trung ở quảng trường, ăn mặc theo phong cách Mỹ, nghe nhạc rock và mơ về một thời quá khứ đã trôi qua mãi mãi. Không như các cô gái miền bắc giản dị, nhiều cô gái miền nam biết làm đẹp cho mình bằng phong cách châu Âu. Họ thích nước da sáng, ngay cả khi ăn vận theo phương Đông, và họ biết tán tỉnh là như thế nào. Dưới thời Mỹ chiếm đóng, thành phố không còn giữ được bản sắc văn hóa của mình, trở thành một thiên đường nhân tạo được bao bọc bởi quân đội và sự trợ giúp của Mỹ, của hàng tấn đồ tiếp tế. Người dân cuối cùng tin rằng đây là cuộc sống. Vì thế, chiến tranh kết thúc khiến họ trở nên lạc lõng và xa rời thực tế, để rồi 4 năm sau khi người Mỹ cuối cùng rút đi, họ không thể gượng dậy được.

Cái giá cho sự cuồng nhiệt này là hết sức kinh ngạc: 360.000 người tàn tật, 1 triệu quả phụ, 500.000 gái điếm, 500.000 con nghiện ma túy, 1 triệu người mắc bệnh lao và hơn 1 triệu lính thuộc chế độ cũ, tất cả đều không thể phục hồi trong xã hội mới. Khoảng 10% dân số thành phố Hồ Chí Minh bị mắc bệnh hoa liễu nặng khi chiến tranh kết thúc và có 4 triệu người mù chữ khắp miền nam.'

Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1979) Việt Nam nhìn từ bên trong Link

Martin Woodhead, Paul Dornan and Helen Murray (2013) Equality in schooling

‘Initial analysis from Young Lives school-effectiveness research in Vietnam gives some evidence on the ability of a school system to bring children from disadvantaged backgrounds up to the level expected by its curricula. Children who did less well on a maths test at around 10 years old (disproportionately those from less advantaged backgrounds) made most progress (Rolleston 2012). One interpretation of these results links to the observation that Vietnamese teaching was focused on the class (as a whole) achieving to an acceptable level, rather than increasing the stretch of the most able individuals. Further the Vietnamese curricula appeared well suited to appropriately develop children’s ability, rather than being over-ambitious. It is also apparent that the qualification levels of teachers in poorer areas tend to be quite similar to those teaching in more advantaged areas, which is probably due to centralised teacher training system.’

Martin Woodhead, Paul Dornan and Helen Murray (2013) What inequality means for children: Evidence from Young Lives Link

Bill Hayton (2010) Obedient youth

'But regardless of region, for the time being the desires of most urban young people seem to be quite compatible with those of their parents. Parents want their children to be successful, to avoid the privations of their own youth, and their children want the same – the tangible benefits of a rising standard of living. Surveys suggest that the more educated the children, the more concerned they are to obtain a good job. They’re prepared to study hard and work to achieve material success. Their horizons are wide and their hopes are high. In the mainstream of teenage and young adult life there’s very little cynicism or defiance of parental wishes. Traditional values of respect for elders and a sense of community responsibility are still strongly inculcated by parents and schools and the vast majority of children still expect their parents to have a strong influence over how they live their lives.'

Bill Hayton (2010) Vietnam: Rising Dragon Link

World Bank (2012) Welfare for people in extreme poverty

'Existing poverty and social protection programs provide only partial coverage and limited benefits to poor and at-risk individuals. In 2010, only half of the extreme poor were eligible for benefits under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA).'

World Bank (2012) Well begun, not yet done: Vietnam's remarkable progress on poverty reduction and the emerging challenges Link

Edwin Shanks, Cecilia Luttrell, Tim Conway, Vu Manh Loi and Judith Ladinsky (2004) Poor people's participation in mass organisations

'[T]he mass organisations are often depicted as the means by which the Party and state have been able to extend supervision and control into different social spheres, to promote its power at the grassroots, and to preempt any challenges from the non-state groups (Koh 2001b: 280). Such organisations, it is argued, exist as “instruments of top down control, despite playing lip service to be representative of group interests” (Tran Thi Thu Trang 2002:12). Even if the mass organisations do serve a bottom-up, representative role, they may not necessarily represent the interests of the poor. Many of the very poor do not join mass organisations, the structures of which are weakest in the poorest areas of the country (Fritzen 2002). In this light, reliance on the mass organisations as channels of information sharing, consultation and representation of the poor is problematic (World Bank 2000).'

Edwin Shanks, Cecilia Luttrell, Tim Conway, Vu Manh Loi and Judith Ladinsky (2004) Understanding pro-poor political change: the policy process - Vietnam Link

Jee Young Kim (2004) Social structure in the mid 1990s

‘[I]n the mid 1990s, northern Vietnamese society had an occupational hierarchy roughly in the order of state-sector jobs, off-farm self-employment, and private farmers. A small occupational elite in jobs such as administrations (0.7 per cent) and professionals (3.5 per cent) and a middle tier of relatively better-off workers (24.8 per cent) existed alongside the vast majority of the population at the bottom of the hierarchy, who worked as farmers (71 per cent).’

Jee Young Kim (2004) Political capital, human capital, and intergenerational occupational mobility in Northern Vietnam Link

Jonathan London (2013) Welfare and inequalities

'Nor should the progressiveness of Vietnamese or Chinese market-Leninism be over-stated. States in both countries combine Leninist tactics of political organisation with market-based strategies of accumulation and social policies that exhibit both redistributive and neo-liberal elements. Unequal forms of citizenship imposed under state-socialism are reproduced and transformed in a manner that preserves the political supremacy of the Communist Party, while creating new market-based opportunities and inequalities. Terms such as “market socialism” or “capitalism with Chinese/Vietnamese characteristics” are inadequate as descriptors of the welfare regimes in these countries. By contrast, the term “market-Leninism” rejects the widely held but false notion that planned or market economies have any inherent political character. The market-Leninist welfare regimes in Vietnam and China demonstrate that as a class-based determinant of distributive out-comes, Leninist political organisation is ultimately much more important than socialism per se, at least for now.'

Jonathan London (2013) Welfare regimes in China and Vietnam Link

Truong Huyen Chi (2009) Child work as voluntary

'Knowing that their parents are working hard for better days for their family, youths take upon themselves an obligation to share the load. The mutual love, moral indebtedness, willingness to share the hardship, and pay back their debt is strongly felt by Dong Vang children and are not simply expressions of filial piety ascribed in a moral model. Rather, these emotions are the moral expectations young people take upon themselves; they have, pace Bourdieu, been internalized and naturalized. Taylor's concept of social imaginary helps explain the tension between the articulation and materialization of the contrasting experiences of Dong Vang children. Their hard work, overwork at times, and feelings towards their parents are consistently cast in overwhelmingly affectionate terms that overshadow any hint of 'abuse' or 'exploitation'.'

Truong Huyen Chi (2009) A home divided: work, body, and emotions in the post-Doi Moi family Link

CECODES, TOWARDS TRANSPARENCY, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL (2011) Youth's willingness to engage in corruption

'[I]n... getting into a good school/company and going through an interview for a dream job which could be considered as having a greater impact on the future of the respondent, 38% and 33% of youth respectively are willing to engage in corruption... [T]here seems to be no difference in responses between youth who have previously been victims of corruption, compared to those who have not, perhaps illustrating that corruption has become institutionalised. These results are well in line with the flexible attitude that youth display towards integrity and their willingness to relax its definition when there is a financial cost or family loyalty is at stake. It indicates an attitude of broad pragmatism among both youth and adults, which extends well into opportunism and using nepotistic networks.'

CECODES, TOWARDS TRANSPARENCY, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL (2011) Youth integrity in Vietnam Link

Martin Gainsborough (2002) The 'new landlord class'

'[I]s it right to see Vietnam as a country devoid of a large landowning class? Despite continued formal restrictions on the maximum permitted landholdings in the countryside, the reform years have been accompanied by the growing incidence of landlessness with its obvious corollary, namely, the re-emergence of large landowners. There is also a confluence of interest between the government's state desire for foreign investment in agro-processing and the need for large landholdings. Foreign investment in agro-processing has been limited to date, but there is some evidence that foreign agro-processors have been able to secure large tracts of land when desired.

One might also argue that while the large landowners of the ancien regime have been toppled, in their place there has emerged a new landlord class, namely Communist Party cadres and government officials. After all, it is very often they, or their family members, who dominate the rural economy. If this analysis is correct, the prospects for a widening of the political space look less good.'

Martin Gainsborough (2002) Political change in Vietnam: In search of the middle-class challenge to the state Link

Ian Coxhead and Diep Phan (2013) Returns on state employment

'What both [state-owned enterprises] and civil administration have in common... is access to rents, which when distributed among their workers, generate potential for incomes that are higher than the earnings of equivalent workers in competitive industries.

[S]tate sector firms are far more intensive in their use of educated workers than are non-state firms... [T]he proportion of workers in non-state firms with a college degree remains extremely low (1.8% in 2008) by comparison with state firms (30%).

In 1993, workers in the state sector earned less on average than workers in the non-state sector. But this was prior to the implementation of most market and labor reforms; since then, they have earned about 40% more per hour than non-state workers.'

Ian Coxhead and Diep Phan (2013) Princelings and paupers? State employment and the distribution of human capital investments among Vietnamese households Link

Linda Murray (2012) Link between poverty and postnatal depression in Central Vietnam

'[This study finds] [b]eing classed as poor was significantly associated with both higher [Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale] scores and lower wellbeing ([World Health Organisation Wellbeing Scale] score) in multivariable general linear models. Being classed as poor has also significantly associated with maternal mental health disorders in studies in the North and South of Vietnam (Fisher et al. 2004; Fisher et al. 2010). A large community based study of 2000 adults in Hue city also found an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and depression (V. D. K. Doan 2011).

... Qualitative phases of the study elucidated the reasons women thought socioeconomic status was important to maternal health... In-depth interviews revealed women were acutely aware of small differences in socioeconomic status between members of their community. Also, they worried about having enough money to bring up their children 'the same as other people.' As one mother quoted 'I have to earn money to bring up my child as equal to other people.''

Linda Murray (2012) PhD thesis: Postnatal Depression in Central Vietnam Link

Gerald C. Hickey (1960) Upward mobility in a Southern village in the first half of the 20th century

'Ownership of land is a primary value among the people of Khánh Hậu, and it is a fundamental requirement in the process of upward social mobility... After a man has accumulated sufficient land to pass on to his children, he begins to think about constructing a substantial house... It is extremely important that a man have sons to carry on the cult, land to provide economic support for the cult, and a substantial house where succeeding generations can maintain the ancestral altars and practice the cult rituals. The house also becomes a prestige symbol reflecting the affluence of the owner, his character as a groups provider, and his ability as a farmer.

As the villager's financial state improves, he is free to devote more time to village activities, another essential characteristic in the process of upward mobility. Once a man has established himself as a respected member of the community and a man of means, it is likely that he will be asked to accept a title in the Cult Committee... Once in the Cult Committee and the Village Council, the villager has more of an opportunity to participate in village affairs... At the present time [1950s], a villager also is expected to join the one political party in the village, and participate in the anti-communist meetings and demonstrations.

Literary is a secondary requisite in the process of upward mobility. Having a primary school certificate is not necessary for upper class status, although it does carry a good deal of prestige. The education of one's children is important, however, for the educational system has expanded considerably in recent years, and sending one's children to school is a sign of being good parent, an attribute highly valued in the village.

It is rare that a man moves from the lower class to the upper class and attains a place among the village venerables in his lifetime. The pattern of upward mobility in Khánh Hậu is for a family to rise over several generations. A man works to accumulate the means for purchasing some land to pass on to his sons and they are expected to build on this inheritance by securing more land. By this process a family may rise from the lower class to the middle class in two generations, and with good fortune, to the upper class in three generations.

For women of the village, the only means to upward mobility is through marriage. All women are expected to marry, and while they subsequently may engage in petty commerce or have a small couturier's shop in the front of the house, their class positions are determined by their husbands.'

Gerald C. Hickey (1960) PhD thesis: The Study of a Vietnamese Rural Community - Sociology Link

Jonathan London (2013) The need for qualitative research

'One of the frequent charges against qualitative research is its apparently limited generalizability. However, there is a tendency in Viet Nam to dismiss qualitative evidence as 'anecdotal' and even non-empirical, neglecting to accept that quantitative data in Viet Nam is frequently suspect and is notably poor at grasping detailed information on the scale and functions of informal economies. Moreover, quantitative evidence alone is of little help in explaining the political economy of social mobilization, which is shaped by a complex array of formal and informal institutions.'

Jonathan London (2013) The Contributions and Limits of 'Socialization': The Political Economy of Essential Services in Vietnam Link

Nguyen Hong Van (2012) Studying Sociology

'Nếu từ bé bạn là người hay đặt câu hỏi về cách sống hay trật tự xã hội, và hay bị quát vì hỏi những thứ vớ vẩn ai cũng biết và ai cũng cho là đúng, nhưng bạn không sao quên được những câu hỏi đấy và muốn tìm câu trả lời, thì có lẽ XHH là một lựa chọn tốt...

XHH tìm tòi câu trả lời cho những câu hỏi tưởng như hết sức đơn giản và đương nhiên như thế. Và cả những điều ta vẫn tưởng là ý thích cá nhân. Nhưng khi học XHH, bạn sẽ biết được rằng kể cả việc bạn thích ăn gì, thích mặc gì, cũng là kết quả của tầng lớp xã hội mà gia đình bạn thuộc về, và anh chàng hay cô nàng nào đó bạn coi là mối tình sét đánh thật ra có những đặc điểm hoàn toàn có thể đoán được trước dựa vào hoàn cảnh xuất thân của chính bạn. Có nghĩa là, mọi sự tình cờ và bất ngờ trên đời này thật ra chẳng hề ly kì như ta tưởng!

...[N]ếu bạn muốn làm nghiên cứu về xã hội Việt Nam thì tôi nghĩ cũng có rất nhiều cơ hội, vì trên bản đồ XHH thế giới, Việt Nam và khu vực Đông Nam Á nói chung vẫn còn rất hoang sơ chưa có nhiều người đào bới. Không như châu Âu và các nước Bắc Mỹ, nơi XHH là một ngành khoa học phát triển đã mấy trăm năm nay, do đó vô vàn nghiên cứu đã được viết về những vùng đất này, Việt Nam vẫn còn rất nhiều điều cho bạn khám phá, và vì thế thực sự là một nơi màu mỡ để xới sâu và trình bày với các nhà XHH trên khắp thế giới.'

Nguyễn Hồng Vân (2012) Tổng quan về Xã Hội Học Link
Nguyễn Hồng Vân (2014) Làm người thiểu số Link

David Hausman (2009) Persistence of patronage through civil service reform

'True pay reform would threaten the interests of those who distributed and earned large allowances, project funding, or bribes; the government had not attempted it. The salary increases of the past decade had, like Vietnam’s other reforms, attempted to satisfy domestic and international pressure for reform without placing patronage networks at risk... [M]ost of the measures offered ample opportunities to continue old practices from within the framework of new policies.'

David Hausman (2009) Policy Leaps and Implementation Obstacles: Civil Service Reform in Vietnam, 1998-2009 Link

Ramona Vijeyarasa (2010) Law-enforced stigma of victims of trafficking

'Trafficked returnees are directly implicated by the State's approach to sex work as a 'social evil'... The language of social evils has negatively influenced attitudes toward sex workers and victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation alike... My argument is that the State and the family, two central facets of the communist community, and the values promoted by these institutions, inhibit access to social services and undermine the ability of trafficked returnees to 'reintegrate' into the Vietnamese society. This thereby defeats the very goal of supporting returnees that the government is attempting to advance.'

Ramona Vijeyarasa (2010) The State, the family and language of 'social evils': re-stigmatising victims of trafficking in Vietnam Link

Caine Rolleston and Sofya Krutikova (2014) Gap in access to well-resourced schools and social selection in schooling

'Very large differences are observed between the most and least advantaged [Grade 5] pupils in terms of access to computers, calculators and the internet, ownership of a study desk/chair/lamp and on whether pupils have their own place to study or have more than ten books (other than school books) at home... Disadvantaged pupils are not found to be in schools with less experienced principals, principals who had received less in-service training or schools which were closed for more days as a result of unforeseen circumstances. They are, however, found to be in schools which receive fewer inspection visits, have lower assets overall and which are more likely to have ‘failing infrastructure’. Differences by home advantage emerge more strongly when going beyond ‘minimum standards’ to more nuanced measures ... Most notably, disadvantaged pupils are considerably less likely to be in schools with libraries, computer facilities, internet accessible to pupils and principals educated to university degree level or who had been awarded the status of ‘excellent teacher’.'

'[D]isadvantaged pupils tended to have lower achieving and more disadvantaged class-peers. In line with this trend, large differences in favour of more advantaged pupils were also found in peers’ opportunities to learn outside school, including use of computers outside school, hours of extra classes attended and ownership of learning materials.'

Caine Rolleston and Sofya Krutikova (2014) Equalising opportunity? School quality and home disadvantage in Vietnam Link

Thomas Heberer (2003) Who became entrepreneurs in the transition

'Former white-collar employees and managers of state or collective firms formed in our study [interviews carried out in 1996-1998 with 202 Vietnamese entrepreneurs throughout the country born 1940s - 1960s] the primary group of private entrepreneurs (managers 12.8%, white collar staffs 38.3%). This corresponds with a study carried out by the National Political Academy Ho Chi Minh (Central Party School) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), according to which 42.7% of the entrepreneurs came from the state sector (civil servants, cadres). In 1991 a Swedish-Vietnamese study came to similar conclusions according to which the figure for former civil servants in the urban areas was 48% (in rural areas about 20%). This group of people not only possesses the best access to government resources and also to premises for production or raw materials, but also has good relationships with state or collective companies as well as to the authorities. With those advantages they have the right prerequisites to found their own firms, into which flow governmental resources as well as relationships with suppliers and customers from the former place of work. Moreover as a result of their earlier work they have at their disposal specific specialized knowledge.'

'At any rate 23.1% of the fathers of the entrepreneurs interviewed had earlier possessed their own company... [These] 'former capitalists'... emphasized that they had acquired through their earlier entrepreneurial activity knowledge and skills which had come of very good use in their renewed entrepreneurial activity. Furthermore a part of this group possessed sufficient capital which they had brought into secure keeping after the communist victory in 1975, and which could now be brought into use as starting capital. Capital and knowledge made possible the development of larger companies.'

Thomas Heberer (2003) Private Entrepreneurs in China and Vietnam: Social and Political Functioning of Strategic Groups Link

World Bank (2013) Rich - poor gap in early childhood development

'Much of the inequality in learning outcomes between different types of young Vietnamese observed in primary education and beyond is already established before the age of formal schooling.'

'Almost a quarter of Vietnamese children below the age of 5 are stunted (GSO and UNICEF, 2011), Apart from poverty, child malnutrition can be explained by inadequate infant and young child feeding practices, including low rates of breastfeeding. In Vietnam and around the world, stunting has been found to strongly negatively affect cognitive skills development (Le Thuc Duc, 2009). Some stunted children remain behind their peers for the rest of their lives.'

'The brain development of young children is highly sensitive to stimulation and interaction. The more parents and care-givers interact with a young child, for example through talking, singing or reading, the better are the conditions for brain development. However, evidence shows that in Vietnam young children from the poorest households receive less stimulation from their parents than children from the wealthiest ones. This implies that during these early years in which children's brains are the most sensitive to interactions and learning, children from poor households are not receiving the investments that they need and are already falling behind children from wealthier households.'

World Bank (2013) Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the workforce for a modern market economy Link

Martin Gainsborough (2010) Continuity in patronage and nepotism

'In relation to so-called 'non-Weberian' features of the state - patronage, personal relations, and centrality of money in politics - there is scarcely any evidence of change in the reform era with such features as entrenched as ever. This is as true for set piece political events, such as the five-year Party Congresses when patronage in the form of public office is circulated, as it is for citizens' everyday dealings with the bureaucracy where connections and the ability to pay are crucial in order to get things done (Gainsborough, 2007, 2009b). Moreover, nepotism rather than meritocracy is the norm in appointments to the government and civil service, which are themselves governed by informal, discretionary rules rather than 'rule of law' (Salomon, 2008). It is, of course, worth considering whether there are some subtle differences between such practices today and in the pre-reform period. For example, some would say that the sums of money involved in paying off office-holders are much larger today and that some practices which might have raised eyebrows a decade or more ago do not today. However, I would argue that we are dealing with questions of scale or extent here and the basic practices are as they have always been (Gainsborough et al., 2009).'

Martin Gainsborough (2010) Present but not Powerful: Neoliberalism, the State, and Development in Vietnam Link

Do Thien Kinh (2010) Occupation-based social structure

'Hiện nay ở Việt Nam, tư duy lý luận nhận thức về giai cấp công nhân vẫn còn ảnh hưởng bởi tư duy cũ thời bao cấp (mặc dù quan điểm/nhận thức về giai cấp công nhân có thay đổi so với thời kỳ quan liêu, bao cấp): 'Giai cấp công nhân Việt Nam là một lực lượng xã hội to lớn, đang phát triển, bao gồm những người lao động chân tay và trí óc, làm công hưởng lương trong các loại hình sản xuất kinh doanh và dịch vụ công nghiệp, hoặc sản xuất kinh doanh và dịch vụ có tính chất công nghiệp.' (Nghị quyết số 6 20-NQ/TW ngày 28/01/2008 của BCH Trung Ương Đảng tại Hội nghị lần thứ 6, BCH TƯ khoá X). Đề tài đưa ra khuyến nghị rằng nên phân chia và sắp xếp các thành viên vào các tầng lớp xã hội phải dựa trên cơ sở họ có vị trí kinh tế, xã hội, chính trị và uy tín tương tự gần với nhau. Điều này có nghĩa rằng, nên xuất phát từ địa vị kinh tế - xã hội tương tự gần với nhau giữa các thành viên trong xã hội để nhóm góp thành mỗi tầng lớp xã hội. Như vậy, những thành viên nào có địa vị kinh tế - xã hội khác nhau sẽ thuộc về những tầng lớp xã hội cũng khác nhau... Nếu thay đổi quan niệm về giai cấp công nhân trong thời kỳ đổi mới như đã đề cập trên đây và phân chia thành 9 tầng/nhóm xã hội như kết quả nghiên cứu của đề tài này, thì thứ bậc đầu tiên phải là đội ngũ Lãnh đạo, quản lý.'

Đỗ Thiên Kính (2010) Một số vấn đề về sự biến đổi cơ cấu xã hội ở Việt Nam giai đoạn 2011-2020 Link
Đỗ Thiên Kính (2013) Nông dân 'đang ở đáy xã hội Việt Nam' Link

Jonathan Pincus and John Sender (2008) Surveying employment for the study of poverty

'Like poverty studies in the United States, the conventional approach favors demographic and geographical explanations and downplays the role of class and gender discrimination in the labor market... Yet the structure of Vietnam Living Standard Survey (VLSS)/Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) questionnaires precludes a serious consideration of the role of wage employment in reducing poverty.'

'More information on wage and other forms of employment is needed to gain a better understanding of poverty dynamics in Vietnam, as elsewhere. Priority should be given to the implementation of a comprehensive labor force survey that accounts for seasonality and collects information on wages, working conditions, security, sectoral composition, skill acquisition, mobility, and women's position in the labor market. Surveys focusing on women working as casual and seasonal agricultural wage laborers and as domestic servants are urgently needed to make antipoverty programs more relevant to the needs of the poor. In our estimation these surveys should be assigned a higher priority than the production of poverty headcounts based on detailed expenditure surveys. Not only are these estimates notoriously error prone, but they also provide only limited information on the causes of poverty. In the absence of detailed labor market information, government officials, aid donors, and academics have tended to overemphasize individual household characteristics and geography at the expense of the structural features of the economy that condition most people's access to better paid and more stable employment.' 

Jonathan Pincus and John Sender (2008) Quantifying Poverty in Vietnam: Who Counts? Link

Nguyen Kien Giang (1993) Cultural influences on people's view of equality

'Trong nội bộ cộng đồng dân tộc, sự cảm nhận về bất công cũng được thể hiện rất rõ trong các quan hệ xã hội khác nhau: thống trị - bị trị; giàu - nghèo; sang - hèn... Xin nói ngay, các quan hệ này không được coi là bất công tự bản thân chúng. Ðạo lý Nho giáo, Phật giáo và cả Ðạo giáo nữa ăn rất sâu vào tâm thức người Việt, khiến người ta coi những quan hệ thứ bậc (hierarchique) như một cái gì tự nhiên, do Trời định đoạt, do phúc đức cha ông, do đức độ cá nhân tạo nên. Ở người Việt ngày trước, không hề có khái niệm “giai cấp” (do đó, cũng không có khái niệm “đấu tranh giai cấp”) mà khái niệm chiếm ưu thế trong các quan hệ xã hội là “hòa”, là “nhường”, là “nhẫn”. Thỉnh thoảng có nổi lên những cuộc đấu tranh xã hội quyết liệt nhưng không phải là để xóa bỏ hệ thứ bậc xã hội cũ mà là xóa bỏ những hiện tượng loạn cương, như xã hội học gọi tên. Có vua là tự nhiên, người ta chỉ chống lại hôn quân (bạo chúa) và ủng hộ minh quân (minh chúa). Có quan cai trị cũng là tự nhiên, người ta chỉ chống tham quan ô lại và ưa thích những liêm quan, những vị quan trung nghĩa. Giàu nghèo cũng là tự nhiên, người ta chỉ bài bác những ác bá, trọc phú và tán dương những người giàu ân đức. Trong quan hệ gia đình cũng vậy, người ta không chống lại quyền uy gia trưởng mà chỉ bài bác những người bố ác nghiệt với con cái, những anh em bất nghĩa với nhau. Người ta tin vào “mệnh trời”, vào sự sáng suốt của trời (“Trời có mắt”), vào “ác giả ác báo”, vào “luân hồi” như một sự điều chỉnh tự nhiên... Một xã hội công bằng đối với người Việt xưa là vậy. Công bằng về đạo lý hơn là về xã hội, về tính chính đáng (legitimité) hơn là về quyền lợi kinh tế. Nó hướng tới một trạng thái “đại đồng” nhưng “tiểu dị”, tới một trật tự được coi là tự nhiên, mà thật ra, đó là một trật tự noi theo những khuôn mẫu (stéréotyes) lâu đời. Nói như thế, không phải là tuyệt đối không có xu hướng bình quân trong ý thức xã hội. Những vết tích thị tộc nguyên thủy, những tác động dòng họ thường là chỗ dựa khá bền vững cho xu hướng bình quân, nhất là ở các làng xã. Nhưng xu hướng này chưa bao giờ là xu hướng chủ đạo và cũng chưa bao giờ được “lý luận hóa”.'

Nguyễn Kiến Giang (1993) Suy nghĩ về công bằng xã hội ở Việt Nam hiện nay Link

Tran Hai Hac (2008) Critique of World Bank's pro-poor growth

'Tất nhiên, xoá đói giảm nghèo, trợ giúp người cực nghèo là một hoạt động có ích, cần thiết, cấp bách, cho dù qui mô của nó khiêm tốn. Song không thể không nhận xét rằng hoạt động này được mọi xã hội sử dụng như bình phong để che đậy và không bàn đến vấn đề bất bình đẳng và bất công trong xã hội. Hay nói cách khác, tăng trưởng 'vì người nghèo' giống như việc làm từ thiện của người giàu: nó có chức năng xã hội là duy trì và tái sản xuất những quan hệ xã hội bất công, phi bình đẳng. Về mặt này, Việt Nam, chí ít cho đến nay, không phải là một ngoại lệ.'

Trần Hải Hạc (2008) Tăng trưởng 'vì người nghèo': World Bank và 'câu chuyện thành công' của Việt Nam Link

Tuong Lai (1993) Relation between political power and economic power

'Từ những khảo sát xã hội học ở một số mẫu đại diện của khu vực đô thị và nông thôn trên một số tỉnh, thành; chúng tôi đã ghi được những 'điểm trồi' về mặt kinh tế trên cái mặt bằng chung của sự phát triển. Những 'điểm trồi' ấy có thể là những nhà doanh nghiệp mới nổi lên ở đô thị, có thể là những 'nhóm vượt trội' ở nông thôn. Những 'điểm trồi', những 'nhóm vượt trội' này thông thường là những nhóm đã hội đủ hoặc tương đối đã ba yếu tố... Phân tích kỹ vào các chiều cạnh của những điểm trồi, những nhóm vượt trội này đã bước đầu có thể nhận xét rằng yếu tố quyền lực có vai trò rất lớn. Phần lớn những người nổi trội lên về kinh tế đều có mối liên hệ rất chặt với yếu tố quyền lực. Hoặc chính bản thân họ đang nắm giữ những vị trí quan trọng liên quan đến chức năng kinh tế của bộ máy quyền lực, hoặc con cháu họ hay những người có liên quan mật thiết đến họ. Vai trò của yếu tố trí tuệ chưa thật nổi trội, thông thường nó lẫn trong hai yếu tố sở hữu và quyền lực.'

Tương Lai (1993) Tính năng động xã hội, sự phân tầng xã hội trong sự nghiệp Đổi mới của nước ta những năm qua Link

Adam Fforde (2011) Critique of poverty measurement

'The Vietnamese experience suggests that the core problems of poverty of the current decade are precisely to do with power asymmetries and exclusion that are linked to structures that lead to groups ‘lower down the food chain’ having lives that are measured as having, relatively speaking, low incomes but high levels of health and education. This creates a stable ‘syndrome’, within which the usual mechanisms of stigmatisation (such as of  ‘backward’ ethnic groups) may come into play.'

Adam Fforde (2011) Vietnam: a discussion of poverty, its measurement and likely causes, with special reference to agriculture Link

Nghiem Lien Huong (2004) Female migrant workers' double disadvantages

'Women may resist certain forms of gender inequality, but in so doing they may simultaneously reproduce these structures. The state's discourse, shifting from a stress on women as productive workers to caring mothers in its new strategies of improving family quality, has unintentionally promoted an alienated image of women who have practical domestic knowledge as well as ample time to take care of the family. In other words, professional and middle-class urban women become more desirable than female migrants who work far from home and have no time for families. Indeed, garment workers' decision to remain in the city can be interpreted not as the refusal of society norms but as a failure in their efforts towards conformity.'

Nghiem Lien Huong (2004) Female Garment Workers: The New Young Volunteers in Vietnam's Modernization Link
Nghiem Lien Huong (2006) PhD Thesis: Work culture, gender and class in Vietnam: ethnographies of three garment workshops in Hanoi Link