Table of Content

20 May 2016, Volume 36 Issue 3

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Higher Education,Elite Formation and Social Stratification in Contemporary China

WU Xiaogang

2016, 36(3):  1-31. 

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Higher education plays an undoubtedly important role in promoting social mobility in modern society. Previous literatures tend to focus on the comparison between those with college degree and those without treating the former as a homogeneous group and the schooling process as a "black-box". This article introduces the background and research design of the Beijing College Students Panel Survey (BCSPS),and analyzes the first wave of the data to investigate social stratification within the Chinese higher education system,paying special attention to the roles of family backgrounds, special admission policy,and key-point high school in the process. Results show that,while family socioeconomic status and residence locations continue to exert direct influence on likelihood of getting into three tiers of universities (national elite university, "211"university and other non-"211"university),key-point high school and special admission policy serve as the important mechanisms in this process. Attending a key-point high school can help students achieve higher scores in college entrance examination and thus ensure the equitable access to college education; special admission policy apparently benefits those from better family backgrounds. Moreover, those in the national elite universities are more likely to join in the party than their counterparts in other universities, although their intentions are lower. These findings bear important implications for understanding the role of higher education in elite formation and social stratification in contemporary China.

Seeking out the Party: A Study of the CCP Membership Recruitment among Chinese College Students

XIE Guihua, ZHANG Yangyang

2016, 36(3):  32-63. 

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Being recruited to the Chinese Communist Party begins with a self-initiated application. Prospective candidates are selected from the applicant pool by the Party and will then go through an evaluation process of at least 12 months long. Only those who meet the expectation will be allowed to join the Party. This study examines the impact of factors such as political attitude, personality, family background and college ranking on university students' eagerness to join the Party and their prospect of being accepted. The data is based on the College Student Panel Survey in Beijing, 2009-2012. We find that both applicants and selected candidates are typically top academic performers who are student leaders, active in community service and popular with fellow students. However, in comparison to non-applicants, both groups score lower in self-assurance, ambition and career-mindedness. Furthermore, Party membership applicants tend to be more socially conscientious and less pragmatic, more obedient to institutional rules and decisions, and less independent-minded. These traits do not seem to affect applicants' chance of Party membership admission. Instead, we find that college ranking has replaced family background to become a major factor in determining application and acceptance of the CCP membership among college students.

Education-Job Mismatches and Earnings among Chinese College Graduates

LI Jun

2016, 36(3):  64-85. 

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The Chinese higher education expansion since 1999 has stimulated a number of empirical studies on the impact of education-job mismatches on college graduates' income,especially among the overqualified. This paper aims to overcome the two limitations in the existing literature that often neglect the possibility of self-chosen over-education as well as the specific labor market for university graduates. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) is applied to analyze the data from the Beijing College Students Panel Survey,namely,the methods of greedy matching,optimal pair matching and optimal full matching,as well as the three predicting equations of propensity score. The analysis indicates a wage penalty associated with over-education that is consistent with the findings in other societies. The self-chosen over-education does not alter the pattern. The overeducated workers in this study earn 21% less than those whose education matches their job requirement. After controlling demographic characteristics and labor market factors in multivariate OLS regression analysis,the difference is down to 15%. The PSM estimates vary from 9% to 18%,depending on the different application of PSM methods and the specification of predicting equations of propensity score. Evidences in this study support the assignment theory,rather than the neo-classical human capital theory,implying that underutilization of education imposes a "productivity ceiling" or a limitation to the utilization of human capital. Furthermore,the study also finds a higher risk of over-education mismatches among graduates who come from less advantaged family background with less prestigious degrees and fewer human capital.

Family Background,Academic Performance and Admission to Postgraduate Study in China

LI Zhonglu

2016, 36(3):  86-109. 

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With the high demand of postgraduate degrees in its competitive job market,China has witnessed a dramatic increase of graduate study applications in recent years. In the year of 2010 and 2012,close to one third of the college graduates in Beijing pursued for graduate programs. However,little is known who these students are. To fill in the gap,this study analyzes the Beijing College Students Panel Survey,to answer the question of how family socioeconomic status affects graduates' choice between job and graduate study. It concludes that students with advantaged family background are much more likely to delay employment and pursue graduate study. Family background and parents' education significantly impact students' decision to seek advanced degrees. For those who pursue domestic graduate programs,this impact is mainly manifested through the selectiveness of undergraduate college and degree,and students' academic performance. However,for those who opt for foreign graduate programs,undergraduate academic excellence is less relevant but family affordability becomes the key determinant.

Organizational Mobilization, Action Strategy, and Opportunity Structure: Analysis on Factors Affecting the Result of Homeowners' Collective Action

SHENG Zhiming

2016, 36(3):  110-139. 

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In community disputes, why some homeowners' collective actions can success, while others fail? Based on three theoretical dimensions which consist of organizational mobilization, action strategy and opportunity structure, this study systematically examines the effect of five factors on the result of homeowners' collective action by analyzing data collected from 191 cases of homeowners' rights protection activities happened in China between 1999 and 2012. These factors include type of dispute, number of participants, rights-defending method, homeowner organization, and government response. Among them, the homeowner organization and the number of participants reflect homeowners' capability of organizing and mobilizing themselves.The rights-defending method is an important part of homeowners' action strategy. The type of dispute and the government response indicate the opportunity and constrain faced by homeowners. The results show that:(1) Inadministrative disputes and mixed disputes, homeowners are less likely to successfully protect their interests. (2) Mobilizing certain number of participants is conducive for homeowners to achieve a satisfactory result in their collective protest, but it does not mean that the more participants mobilized, the more likely they will succeed. For the cases which relate toimportant public affairs of community, mobilizing enoughhomeowners to reach the necessary quorum of statutory requirement for public decision making is the necessary condition tosuccessfully resolve homeowners' problems.(3) Different kinds of rights protection methods and their combinations can influence the result of homeowners' rights-defending activity. The non-institutionalized and radical actions are not helpful for homeowners to realize their interest claims. In most situations, homeowners, as the moderate middle class, would resort to institutionalized and rational way to protect their interests;(4) A well-functioned homeowners' organization which truly represents the interests of homeowners can significantly increase the success rate of homeowners' collective action. (5) The government maladministration (that is the improper intervention and administrative nonfeasance) severely hinder homeowners from successfully protecting their legitimate rights and interests. It would be hard for homeowners' organization to play their positive role when they encounter the improper reaction of state power. This is the institutional obstacle in homeowners' rights-defending action. These findings, to certainextent, reveal the reality of strong state and weak society in contemporary China.

Spontaneous Cognitive Liberation in the Context of Rights-defending Actions: A Case Study of the Evolution of Homeowner Activists' Rights Consciousness

SUN Xiaoyi, HUANG Ronggui

2016, 36(3):  140-166. 

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Empirical studies on Chinese homeowners' rights-defending activism largely focus on either the political opportunities or the resource mobilization perspective, and often neglect the cognitive process of homeowner activists in developing their rights consciousness. This study attempts to utilize the framing perspective and cognitive liberation to gain an understanding of activists' subjective cognition in their rights defending actions. We propose an analytic framework that examines two aspects of the homeowner rights consciousness:the content of rights (property rights vs. rights to self-governance) and the nature of rights (reactive vs. proactive). The data is collected from Sina Weibo tweets posted by homeowner activists between 2011 and 2015. The results show that activists are universally aware of property rights and are increasingly proactive in seeking self-governance. Subsequent interviews of a group of activists reveal a spontaneous and interactive process of cognitive liberation that comes from both the first-hand experiences and the online discussions with fellow activists. Social media provides a platform upon which activists exchange information and form networks, learn from each other about common issues and obstacles, and as a result, it promotes collective consciousness and facilitates cognitive liberation. In our view, future studies of homeowner rights defending activism should shift from the event-centered case study approach to the issue-centered analysis of the grass-roots rights movement as a whole.

“Neo-Agents”: A Study on Village Governance under the “Projects to Villages” Model

LI Zupei

2016, 36(3):  167-191. 

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Projects to Villages (xiangmu jincun) is an important way for the Chinese government to distribute resources to grassroots villages and it has gained popularity in recent years. "Projects to Villages" has brought changes to the village governance body-village cadres, described in this study as "Neo-Agents." The term explains a newly emerged grassroots power base that was created by the government's "Projects to Villages" initiatives. With the intense competition for projects among villages, people with the right political and personal skills, broad networks and less vested interest in village are able to step onto the political stage and gain power. Contrary to the essential need of developing a long-term effective rural leadership, these "Neo-Agents" practice a type of short-term interest-focused governance. They do not provide a solution to the governance quandary experienced in villages since the rural taxation reform in 2002, instead, with the availability of state resources, they help further consolidate the existing village power structure. The study also compares "Neo-Agents" with traditional power agents of gentry, local elites and government officials. Four aspects of foundation of authority, mechanism of power transfer, structure of governance, and effectiveness of governance are discussed in hope to stimulate further academic and practical interest in the subject.

Work-Family Conflict, Gender Role,and Job Satisfaction: An Analysis of the Phase III Chinese Women Social Status Survey

XU Qi, QI Jingjing

2016, 36(3):  192-215. 

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The negative impact of work-family conflict on job satisfaction and business management is a much studied subject in the West. However, in China, academic interest on the subject has not yet gone much beyond the general information on theory and literature, and empirical studies remain rare. This study uses the data from the Phase Ⅲ Chinese Women Social Status Survey to investigate work-family conflict and its impact on job satisfaction. Taken into consideration of the patriarchal and patrilineal family structure in China, the analysis pays special attention to the gender difference in the conflict. We find that both work and family constitute the primary sources for work-family conflicts. It does not matter which of the two causes the conflict, it results in job unsatisfaction. Women are much more affected than men from work and family pressure and subsequently have negative job satisfaction. The finding provides valuable empirical information for theoretical considerations on the subject as well as some practical implications for business management.

The Multigenerational Effects in Social Mobility: Evidence from China

ZHANG Guijin, ZHANG Dong, ZHOU Wen

2016, 36(3):  216-240. 

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Multigenerational effects between grandparents and grandchildren is a much debated topic in social mobility literature. Data from the China Labor Force Dynamic Survey (2012) is analyzed in this study to track social mobility across three generations in Chinese families. The study finds that association in socio-economic status between grandparents and grandchildren is insignificant for children born before 1980. This age cohort's parents and grandparents experienced the Chinese socialist revolution that completely shifted the social class structure and disrupted the generational cumulative family advantage and disadvantage. Individuals born after 1980 have grandparents who lived through the socialist period but had more opportunities and mobility brought by the market reform. However,the fundamental social stratification order did not change,and thus the cumulative advantage or disadvantage extended from adjacent generation to multi-generation. The study also finds that individuals can achieve social mobility through education,however,family background influences grandchildren's education attainment. For the most recent two age cohorts,children's education is closed correlated not only to their parents but grandparents' socioeconomic status,indicating multigenerational effects in social mobility. This study shows that the multigenerational approach is better situated to examine social mobility in China than the two generation approach.