New Characteristics and Tendencies on Chinese Social Mobility:A Review of the Study on Current Social Mobility of“X Second Generation”〔*〕

Gu Hui

(Anhui Academy of Social Sciences，HefeiAnhui230051)

Ⅰ.The present situation and the trend of social stratification and mobility

Around 2000，researches on“contemporary Chinese social structure changes”led by Lu Xueyi at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences prompted a boom research on social stratification and social mobility in academia both in home and abroad.Then the academia community holds several different views about the current situation and trend of the social stratification structure，those ideas later were summed up as four types of representative views by Li Chunling，〔1〕Summarizing those judgments and empirical studies，they had two kinds of general judgment on the new changes of Chinese social class structure.The optimistic judgment thought that China’s class structure was“stratifying”，that industrialization and urbanization provided opportunities of rising mobility for social members and social class structure was creating a modern social class structure with the middle class as main body.〔2〕Another kind of judgment thought that China’s class inheritance dominated in class relative relational schema after the Reform and Opening up and the original urban class model was continuously reproduced in the process of social system transformation.〔3〕The more pessimistic view thought that social class relations was fractured，which led to a gap and isolation between the upper class and its opposite class.〔4〕

The research group of“contemporary Chinese social structure changes”analyzed the data of 2001 research and held that compared with the period before the reform and opening up，the openness degree of the current social stratification and mobility mechanism in Chinese society had increased，but the border of all classes still needed to be further open.In the analysis of factors affecting people’s social status changes，the research group stressed that personal occupational status relied more on education and political loyalty based on individual efforts after the Reform and Opening up;however，the parent’s occupational status still had a strong influence on personal occupational status.〔5〕Seven years later，Zhang Yi further confirmed the trend of social openness with the CSS data in 2008:During the process of urbanization and industrialization，peasantry rapidly upgrade to the working class.Meanwhile，with the popularization of higher education，the number of white-collar workers has also increased.But the author also pointed out that social vertical mobility had been gradually closed on the rising mobility.Inter-generational inheritance of peasantry was decreasing，but that of white-collar workers greatly enhanced.The expansion of education brought the opportunities to the lower class and created more opportunities to the upper class.〔6〕So although the trend was not obviously observed in only several years，the divided social hierarchy between manual laborers and intellectuals was increasingly clear.As for intellectuals，especially the advantageous classes，hierarchy inheritance had been enhanced.Some scholars’study further confirmed the features of hierarchical segmentation and internal closure of social mobility.〔7〕Li Qiang summarized that the solidification between stratified class and interest groups in the special era of social transformation suggests that the structure of social classes has been finalized.It is mainly shown in the following aspects:boundaries between classes，lifestyle characteristics，and cultural patterns had evolved;ratio of upward mobility of disadvantaged groups decreased;internal class identity is continuing to be strengthened.As the social class structure finalizing，the huge social differentiation began to stabilize.At the same time，the closure of the upper class enhanced;opportunities for the lower class to go up into the upper class were less.Family background had played a more active and important role in individual social status.〔8〕These views highly summarized the current situation of social stratification and mobility trends.

Ⅱ.Research on mechanism of social mobility

Gong Weibin considered that after 1990s，market mechanisms played a more and more important role in the allocation of resources.Mechanism of social mobility tended to be market-oriented，but state policy arrangements did not disappear but had alternative forms.This mixed mobility mechanism did not address the problem of deviation from the social mobility.On one hand，irrational institutional arrangements still existed.On the other hand，the rational system had not yet been established.One hand is the formal institutional arrangements and the other non-institutionalized interaction.Therefore，compared with developed market economy countries，the characteristics of the mechanism of social mobility are that it is in the transitional stage towards market.Problems generated from imperfect mobility mechanism of the market economy have also popped out in our country，and are more severe.In addition，our social mobility mechanism is featured by a vivid“Chinese characteristics”:First，the institutional arrangements with ascription characteristics are still on the stage and even the new variants have emerged in some aspects，which embody a kind of transition.Second，social capital factors of the non-institutionalized had unique influence，and implicated its social structural and cultural characteristic.〔9〕

Ⅲ.Research on cadre elite and“the second officer generation”

The research group of“contemporary Chinese social structure changes”assumed that strata of state and social managers showed some inter-generational inheritance.The persons whose fathers are cadres，corporate executives and business owners，were most likely to become the managers of state and society，about 7 out of 100 among which would become managers of state and society(6.6%).Those born in professional and technical personnel and clerical staff families also had some advantages，the ratio were 3.1%and 2.7%，ratio of workers and peasants were the lowest，less than 1%.〔10〕Zheng Hui，Li Lulu found that the ratio of the elite’s children becoming elite were 1.925 more than that of non-elite.It showed that the elite can indeed be reproduced.But the study did not find that occupational attainment of administrative cadre of elite(the author defines them as the cadre elite under junior college education)was influenced by family background，yet by the role of the political and cultural capital.On the way to get occupational status of the technical cadres elite(the author defined them as above junior college education)，background of parent’s elite was a very strong influencing factor.〔11〕

Although empirical research on inter-generational inheritance degree of cadres class determined differently，these studies basically agreed that whether before or after the reform，there was a higher inter-generational inheritance in cadres.After the reform，especially since 1990s，inheritance of cadres had somewhat enhanced;in other words，there was a certain degree of“the second officer generation”phenomenon in cadres stratum，but before and after the reform，the inheritance mechanism of“the second officer generation”varied，although the rule of cadre selection was based on performance after the reform，cadres stratum continued to maintain the advantage of social class status attainment through political identity，education diploma，social networks and other intermediary pathways.

Ⅳ.Research on economic elite and the“rich second generation”

The research group of“contemporary Chinese social structure changes”found the stratum position of private entrepreneurs was not significantly affected by family background.They grew more by virtue of their hard work，talent，intelligence and opportunities.However，the authors also pointed out that it could be found from the case interviews that two forms of inter-generational transfer of capitals would affect the large private entrepreneurs to achieve their status.First，some of the officials and managers of state-owned or collective enterprises had the right to allocate state resources or privileged operations.They would help their children become large private entrepreneurs.Second，some large private entrepreneurs’fathers or grandfathers were entrepreneurs or businessmen who passed entrepreneurial business experience and values to their children in the family.This help their children choose the way of doing business or setting up factories and succeed in business.〔12〕This research is about the first generation economic elite after the reform.As time passed by，their children have become the generation with high hopes and much attention，along with power transfer of this generation of private entrepreneurs;“rich second generation succession”issue had become the focus of the government，society and the academic.

In short，people rarely question inter-generational wealth transfer of economic elite because of the legitimacy of inter-generational inherited wealth.Therefore，about the social mobility of“rich second generation”，such high rates of inter-generational inheritance of wealth and career were beyond doubt.Perhaps because of no suspense，ongoing hot discussion on the“rich second generation”has shifted to their operating capacity and lifestyle.But perhaps in view of the difficulty and sensitivity of the investigation，objective and rational research in this area is also less，it needs to be further expanded and in-depth studied.

Ⅴ.Research on differentiation of the peasant and the“peasantry second-generation”

The research group of“contemporary Chinese social structure changes”showed that agricultural laborers were a class with the strongest inter-generational inherit-ance.92.8%of agricultural workers came from peasant families，while more than half the children in the peasant family(54.9%)were still agricultural laborers.〔13〕The survey was conducted more than ten years ago，when China joined WTO.The exportled economic growth promoted the rapid development of export processing industries in eastern coastal areas，which attracted a large number of mid-western surplus agricultural labors becoming workers and formed a large population of migrant workers.This large-scale population flow was not only geographical but occupational mobility.From the perspective of social stratification and mobility，it was the transition from the peasantry to the worker class，the rise of social mobility.However，due to the lack of large-scale surveys and authoritative research，social mobility research on peasantry was rare.Zhang Yi’s study，analyzing 2008 CSS data by Sociology Institute of CASS，indicated that the biggest feature of current Chinese social stratification was the transformation from the peasantry to the worker class.The inheritance rate of the peasantry was getting lower and lower.〔14〕In addition，some studies of local area relatively frequent flowing class，especially for the“post 1980s”，who were engaged in such a very low percentage of agricultural labors that they had a very low rate of inheritance hierarchy.However，upward space of inter-generational mobility in agricultural laborers was not large，most agricultural laborers rose to the class of industrial workers.It is difficult for them to become white-collar workers across manual workers.

Ⅵ.Research on inter-generational transmission of poverty and“poor second generation”

In 1960s，American economist O.Lewi put forward the concept of“inter-generational transmission of poverty”.Although there is no data about Chinese inter-generational transmission of poverty，many regional and small-scale empirical researches showed that inter-generational transmission of poverty existed widespread in urban and rural areas in China.The theoretical interpretation of intergenerational transmission of poverty has cultural poverty theory，policy poverty theory and economic structural poverty theory，in whose explanations，the impact of intergenerational transmission of poverty can be summarized as several key aspects，including population and health，education，social(policy)exclusion，living environment，quality(ability)and social networks，etc.Domestic empirical studies had mainly been carried out around those factors.However，from those studies，explanations lack systematicity，often emphasized much on the impact of certain factors while ignored other factors，so to build inter-generational transmission theory of poverty also needs to combine a macro theory with empirical research.

Research concerning“poor second generation”also included studies of some special groups，as for research on “Ants Group”in big cities，〔15〕and research on“Cock Wire，”that popular on the network.〔16〕Although these groups marginalized in the social hierarchy，an increasingly narrow road of their chances upward mobility in social class space reflected current social solidified structure，also it provided a new way for us to broaden the“poor second generation”research.

Ⅶ.Summary:consensus，insufficiency and prospects

After scanning the above academic documents，we concluded a basic judgment of the current trends of contemporary social stratification and mobility—the social class structure has assumed the trend of being solidified since the late 1990s.This judgment is based on the following evidences:with the gap between the rich and poor widening，there had been a gap between social classes in manual and non-manual workers.Social mobility across manual and non-manual class was becoming less and less，and short distance flow inside the two classes occupied the dominant of social mobility.In the non-manual stratum，the upper class(elite)was growing more and more sealed，particularly in the state and social manager stratum(power elite)and professional and technical personnel stratum(intellectual elite).Inside social mobility of the laborers class was mainly the transition from peasantry to the worker class;however，due to the special nature of migrant workers，this seemingly upward social mobility affected by the policy still had uncertain trend.About the impact mechanism of social mobility，self-induced factors still played a dominant role，but the role of family background was becoming more and more important.Institutional arrangements still had a fundamental impact on the individual’s social status attainment.

Domestic researches on social mobility and social stratification had made encouraging progress over the past decade.Research on trend of social stratification and mobility continued to expand;studies on mechanism were deepening，and new empirical research continued to emerge.Generally，the most important drawback was that research tended to be decentralized and lacks systematicity.Since series of studies“contemporary Chinese social class structure change”by the research group of CASS，no large-scale domestic survey on social stratification and mobility was executed.Although there are some scattered researches，systematic，rigorous and authoritative research systems are still out of reach.As mentioned earlier，academia basically formed a consensus on current trends of a solidifying social class structure.What are the characterization，connotation and mechanisms of hierarchical closure?If there is a relative stability era of social system change，technological revolution and wealth distribution as Weber said，then does the current social stereotyped structure mean China has entered the era of relative stability of the distribution of wealth?As for the problems，the current academic research on the“second generation”was normative.These judgments were based more on the simple summary of phenomenon and it was lacking of empirical scientific studies to prove or disprove these judgments.The core issue of“second generation”phenomenon was high inheriting levels of these groups.This judgment came more from people’s impressions formed by stitching many cases，how about actually inherited rate?High rate of hierarchy inheritance of“inherited his father”was universal things whether in the traditional society or modern western society，so under the current circumstances，how much rate is reasonable in class inherits?Perhaps research on the behind flow mechanism of“second generation”phenomenon will be better to reveal the reasonableness of inheritance.Meanwhile，social stratification and mobility is a historical process，judgment on the solidified structure should be based on a lasting study，so large-scale survey data across the period has a great significance to examine all these judgments.

〔1〕Li Chunling，Fracture and Fragmentation:Empirical Analysis on Contemporary Chinese Social Stratification，China Social Sciences Documents Press，2005.

〔2〕Lu Xueyi，Research Report of Contemporary Chinese Social Stratification，China Social Sciences Documents Press，2002.Lu Xueyi，Chinese Contemporary Social Mobility，China Social Sciences Documents Press，2004.

〔3〕Li Lulu，Institutional Transition and Hierarchy Change:Dual Mode Reproduction of Hierarchy Relative Relationship，Chinese Social Sciences，2002(6).

〔4〕Sun Liping，Fracture:Chinese Society Since 1990s，China Social Sciences Documents Press，2003.

〔5〕〔10〕〔12〕〔13〕Lu Xueyi，Chinese Contemporary Social Mobility，China Social Sciences Documents Press，2004.

〔6〕Zhang Yi，Changing Trend of Chinese Social Class Structure:Based on Analysis of CGSS Data，Socialism with Chinese Characteristics Study，2011(3).

〔7〕Li Lulu，Reproduction and domination:Rethinking Social Mobility Mechanisms，Sociological Research，2006(2)，Gao Yong，Barriers of Social Mobility:Investigation on Inter-generational Mobility under the Structural Change Background，Sociology Research，2009(6)

〔8〕Li Qiang，Ten Lectures on Social stratification，China Social Sciences Documents Press，2011.

〔9〕Gong Weibin，Mobility Mechanism in Our Society:Changes and Problems，Journal of the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences，2004(4).

〔11〕Zheng Hui，Li Lulu，Inter-generational Transformation and Class Reproduction of Chinese Urban elit，Sociological Research，2009(6).

〔14〕Zhang Yi，What New Changes of Hierarchical Structure of Our Society in Recent years，Beijing Daily，2012-06-04.

〔15〕Liansi，Survey on College Graduate of“Ants Groups”in the Inhabited Villages，Guangxi Normal University Press，2009.

〔16〕Dong Haijun，Shi Yu Feng，Youth Inter-generational Mobility and Non-fair in Intra-generational Opportunities，China Youth Research，2013(1).