Through the lens of different aspects of identity-namely gender, citizenship, race, and ethnicity-the author explores the formation of this social identity on local, national, and global scales. The social meanings attached to white-collar workers and the attitudes they embrace are simultaneously the result of a global capitalist history, a state-led market reform process, various local cultures, and the agency of white-collar workers themselves. Foreign investment patterns led to concentrations of white-collar workers in the urban areas, but the particularly high prestige assigned to Shanghai's white-collar workers is a matter of local history in a global capitalist landscape. Even if only peripherally related, these factors lend credibility
