Expanding Inequality: Trends in Educational Stratification during China’s Market Transition

Abstract

This study looks at educational inequality in China, a country that has greatly expanded access to education in recent decades. It uses a sequential logit model to study the changing impact of family background on educational transitions and educational attainment, comparing birth cohorts that completed their schooling during different stages of the market transition process. Data are derived from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a large and nationally representative household survey that provides detailed retrospective information. The findings show that in reform-era China educational inequality has increased despite large-scale educational expansion. Since the onset of the market reforms the importance of social origin has continuously increased, particularly at the crucial transition to senior high school. I suggest that the resulting pattern of expanding inequality can be explained by a combination of market-based educational reforms, increasing returns to education and massive increases in wider social and economic inequality.

Social-demographic correlates of mindset in China

“…We then turn to the association between education and mindset. Despite large-scale educational expansion — average years of schooling in China increased from about 5.5 in 1950 to 11 in 1990 (Treiman, 2013) — educational inequality has also increased (Gruijters, 2019). A highly educated person — a self-conscious “winner” in the educational competition — is more likely to hold a growth mindset; that is, attributing their success to their education and effort rather than to other innate and external factors.…”