Contents • Changes in Social Stratification: o Social Stratification and Its Transformation in Brazil o Changes in the Social Structure of Russian Society Within a Period of Transformation o Social Stratification and Change in Contemporary India o Changes in China's Social Stratification Since 1978 • The Working Class: o Labor, Workers, and Politics in Contemporary Brazil: 1980–2010 o The Working Class in a Transitional Society: From the Soviet Union to the Russian Republic o The Urban Industrial Working Class and the Rural Peasant Working Class in India o The Status Quo and Change to the Working Class in Contemporary China • Peasants: o The Brazilian Peasantry: A History of Resistance o The Transformation of the Social Structure in Modern Rural Russia o The Differentiation of the Peasantry in India Since Independence o Rural Society and Peasants in China • Enterprises and Entrepreneurship: o Innovative Entrepreneurship in Brazil o The Development of Entrepreneurship in Russia: Main Trends and the Status Quo o Tradition and Entrepreneurship of Indian Private Entrepreneurs o China's Fledgling Private Entrepreneurs in a Transitional Economy • The Middle Class: o The Formation of the Middle Class in Brazil: History and Prospects o The Middle Class in Russian Society: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity? o The Rise of the Middle Class in India Since Independence o The Heterogeneous Composition and Multiple Identities of China's Middle Class • Income Inequality: o Income Inequality and Social Stratification in Brazil: Key Determining Factors and Changes in the First Decade of the 21st Century o Income Inequality in Russia o Poverty and Income Inequality in India's Urban and Rural Areas o Structural Characteristics and Trends of Income Inequality in China • Educational Inequality: o Educational Inequality and Social Stratification in Brazil o Inequality in Education: The Case of Russia o Education and Social Stratification in India: Systematic Inequality o Educational Inequality and Educational Expansion in China • Consumption: o Beyond Social Stratification: A New Angle on Consumer Practices in Contemporary Brazil o Consumption and Lifestyle in Russia o The New Emerging Consumption Class and Their Lifestyles o The Stratification of Consumption Among Social Classes, Occupational Groups, and Identity Groups in China • Class Consciousness and Values: o Working Class Formation in Brazil: From Unions to State Power o The Research of Class and Group Consciousness in Contemporary Russian Society o Social-Class Connection and Class Identity in Urban and Rural Areas o Stratum Consciousness and Stratum Identification in China.

Along with the fast growing economy, the term “BRICs” was coined to represent the newly emerging countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China. The enhanced economy in these countries has largely improved people's life; at the same time, it has also strongly influenced the transformation of social structure, norms and values. However, as the world's attention centers on their economic development at the micro level, the social changes at the micro level have often been neglected, and a specific comparative study of these four countries is even more rare. This handbook's contributing authors are leading sociologists in the four countries. They fill the gap in existing literature and examine specifically the changes in each society from the perspective of social stratification, with topics covering the main social classes, the inequality of education and income, and the different styles of consumption as well as the class consciousness and values. Under every topic, it gathers articles from authors of each country. Such a comparative study could not only help us achieve a better understanding of the economic growth and social development in these countries, but also lead us to unveil the mystery of how these emerging powers with dramatic differences in history, geography, culture, language, religion and politics could share a common will and take joint action. In general, the handbook takes a unique perspective to show readers that it is the profound social structural changes in these countries that determine their future, and to a large extent, will shape the socio-economic landscape of the future world.