Intergenerational Mobility Modes and Changes in Social Class in Contemporary China

CITATION

Lulu, L. and Bin, Z. (2017) Intergenerational Mobility Modes and Changes in Social Class in Contemporary China, Social Sciences in China, 38(1), pp. 127-147

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ABSTRACT
Using data from three China General Social Surveys, this paper analyzes changes in the
basic situation of intergenerational mobility among social classes in China over the past
60 years. General social mobility was found to have increased, but social openness tended
to show a wave-like pattern of change. Despite this, intergenerational inheritance was the
main form of intergenerational mobility in every period. With the transformation of the
socioeconomic system, the main mechanism of social exclusion changed from “systemic
exclusion” to “market exclusion,” leading to changes in the structure of social opportunity.
As a result, the form taken by intergenerational mobility varied significantly. This is chiefly
evident in the gradual decline in the dominance of intergenerational inheritance among
particular strata, with cross-class cyclical mobility becoming more difficult. On the one hand,
changes in the social exclusion mechanism may increase social openness, making society
more dynamic and strengthening social legitimacy. On the other hand, as the dominant class
learns how to use market exclusion to achieve class reproduction, class solidification may
still be possible in a future Chinese society.


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