“后精英”的社会印象 : 当代大学生对阶层分化及社会机会的主观认知

Translated title of the contribution: University students’ perception on social stratification and social opportunities : a post-elitist perspective

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

教育是影响社会流动的重要机制。在中国高等教育实行精英教育阶段,大学生群体能借助高考以“天之骄子”的身份快速跻身上层社会。20世纪90年代末,中国高等教育政策发生改变,由精英教育转向大众教育,使大学生群体由“天之骄子”变成“后精英”。同时,在全面市场化改革的带动下,中国社会结构快速变迁,社会分层现象引人注目。调查结果显示,大学生群体倾向于认为社会分层已经“结构化”,虽然较多的大学生对社会机会持乐观态度,但如若与精英教育时代的大学生相比,他们则认为“向上流动”的渠道已变得较为狭窄,且家庭背景及资源对一个人的前途发展有显性影响,代际“再生产”机制占据优势。虽然不同社会经济背景的大学生个体的看法存在差异,但从社会统计学的角度来看,整体认知的同质性较高。

Since the comprehensive implementation of the market-oriented reform, China’s economic system has dramatically transformed, and its social structure has undergone similar transformation. Undoubtedly, social stratification is becoming one of the most striking phenomena in the transformation. Meanwhile, the Chinese higher education policy has also changed, turning from elite education to mass education and turning the university students from the "God’s favored ones" into "Post-elitists." As a consequence, Chinese university students are destined to be the group that has complex and special feelings about the social stratification: as ordinary members of the community, they are inevitably affected by the macro-trend of social stratification; as a particular group which is impacted by the policies of higher education, they follow the same fickle wheel of fortune. The survey on university students in Guangzhou shows: firstly, they generally think that the inequality among social strata is severe; secondly, they also generally think that compared with the times before the market-oriented reform, the "upward mobility" channel in the society is narrowed down, and family background and resources are playing a great role in individuals’ development; thirdly, most of them assert that the current policy of university students’ autonomous (or "two-way choice") employment is a responsibility-avoidance policy of the government, which fails to help the students from impoverished families, and that the government has done little advocating and maintaining equality m employment. The conclusion of this survey indicates that university students tend to think that social stratification has already been structuralized. Their available social opportunities are decreasing, while the social mobility bears a ’’reproduction" imprint. Although attitudes vary among students from different socio-economic backgrounds, there is high homogeneity in the group perception from a social statistical perspective. The discussion of social stratification or social structure at the level of subjective perception is an important perspective of research which is often overlooked in the domestic academia. The subjects of this study are university students. Their views on social stratification, on opportunities of social mobility and on government policies are expected to enrich the research in this field. The practical significance of this study is that it reminds us that, because of the rapid changes in economy and society, university students’ psychological counseling should become a critical issue in higher education. More targeted psychological counseling should be given to those university students who are pessimistic about social opportunities and social mobility. These students are usually from non-key universities and their parents belong to the lower social strata. It is also necessary to examine the current policy of enrollment expansion in universities and the employment problems of university graduates.
Translated title of the contributionUniversity students’ perception on social stratification and social opportunities : a post-elitist perspective
Original languageChinese (Simplified)
Pages (from-to)182-195
Number of pages14
Journal浙江大学学报 (人文社会科学版)
Volume43
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2013
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

香港教育学院研究基金项目 (RG25/2009-2010R)

Keywords

  • 社会机会
  • 社会分层
  • 社会流动
  • 大学生
  • 主观认识
  • 高等教育
  • 后精英
  • Social opportunity
  • social stratification
  • social mobility
  • university students
  • subjective perception
  • higher education
  • post-elitist

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