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Public Perceptions of Intergenerational Mobility in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2025

Feng Yang ,
Airan Liu Open the ORCID record for Airan Liu [Opens in a new window]  and
Wangyang Li
Feng Yang
Affiliation:
Center for Social Research, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, China,
Airan Liu*
Affiliation:
Center for Social Research, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, China,
Wangyang Li
Affiliation:
School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
*
Corresponding author: Airan Liu; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Perceived intergenerational mobility profoundly influences individual attitudes and behaviour, carrying important implications for social stability and development. How do Chinese citizens perceive the intergenerational persistence of family advantages, and how do these perceptions compare with reality? This study conducts multiple randomized vignette experiments across two online surveys to assess public perceptions of correlations between various socio-economic indicators of parents and their children. Respondents estimate moderate to moderately strong correlations across generations. By leveraging the comparability of perceptions and objective estimates made possible by our novel measurement instrument, we find that respondents often overestimate the likelihood of equal opportunities for children from families with differing educational backgrounds. Alongside these largely optimistic perceptions, we also uncover signs of emerging pessimism. These results offer a nuanced snapshot of perceived social mobility in China, highlighting its multidimensional manifestations and divergence from reality, while also providing methodological insights for future research on its evolving dynamics.

摘要

摘要

民众对代际流动性的感知会显著影响其态度与行为, 进而对社会的稳定与发展产生深远影响。中国民众如何看待来自不同家庭背景的子女在机遇方面的差异? 这些感知与现实之间存在何种差距? 本研究基于两个线上调查开展多个随机情景实验, 以评估民众如何感知父母与子女多项社会经济指标之间的相关性。受访者对这些指标的代际粘性的估计介于中等到较强之间。得益于该新颖测量工具的优势, 我们能够直接对比这些感知与客观估计值之间的差异。对比发现, 受访者往往高估来自不同教育背景家庭的孩子享有平等机遇的可能性。在这些总体乐观的感知背后, 我们也发现了部分悲观感知的初步迹象。这些分析细致地刻画了目前中国民众对社会流动性的感知, 尤其突出其多维特征及与现实的偏差, 也为未来深入检验其动态演变提供了一些研究方法上的借鉴。

Keywords

Chinaintergenerational mobilitypublic perceptionssocial mobility社会流动代际流动民众主观感知中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , First View , pp. 1 - 21
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London.

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