Social Structure and Educational Inequality: The causes of educational inequality between rural and urban Chinese people
Author: Yifei Lu, amy1987lu@gmail.com
Department: Sociology
University: Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Supervisor: Xavier Bonal and Rosario Scandurra
Year of completion: In progress
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
Educational inequality
, Rural Chinese
, Structural changes
, Quantitative method
Areas of Research:
Education
, Economy and Society
, Poverty, Social Welfare and Social Policy
Abstract
This thesis uses a structuralist framework to analyse the educational gap between rural and urban people in China. It argues the importance of the effects of the time space dimension of social structure on individuals’ behaviour. The main body of research is composed of three empirical chapters using quantitative methods to investigate the influences of social structure changes on educational attainment for rural and urban Chinese people; the impact of educational resources, the school environment, and school segregation on rural and urban Chinese students; the cultural reproduction process for Chinese students; and the effect of hukou on the reproduction process. The findings suggest the educational gap between rural and urban Chinese people has been widening in recent years, but the driving force behind the widening educational gap is not the differences between individuals’ social positions, but the unequal distribution of educational resources and differences in educational environments. Notably, despite the different educational opportunities between rural and urban hukou holders, rural Chinese parents and students still have the same high educational expectations and inspiration as their urban counterparts. These findings imply that the egalitarian policies from the socialist period may still affect rural Chinese people’s educational expectations but the increasingly unequal distribution of resources and social barriers for rural Chinese people is deepening the inequality between rural and urban Chinese people. This kind of inequality is difficult to reduce, as the nation’s development model continues to be urban-centred and lack redistribution policies.
