Research On Social Mobility Of Contemporary Canal Boat People

This thesis portrays the real living conditions of boatmen of three periods:before and after the founding of People's Republic of China,and after the reform and opening up.It demonstrates that boat people in canal fail to realize effective social mobility over the past century.I adopt social mobility theories from home and abroad and integrate research methods of interview and questionnaire.Based upon my research,I examine factors affecting social mobility of boatmen,and put forward some tentative countermeasures and suggestions to improve their situations in terms of social mobility.The first part of the paper elaborates upon the necessity of studying boatmen's social mobility issue,states my research question,and introduces my research methods and outline.In the second part,I review literatures on boat people and social mobility.Thirdly,I describe their real living conditions during different periods.In the past,they fell in the underclass subject to strong state power and its influence such as discrimination from the general society;thus they were unable to realize social mobility.After the founding of PRC,they were formally liberated from the shackle of underclass and became member of worker.Nevertheless,the majority were locked in their "boat people circle." This period hardly observed their upward social mobility.Since reform and opening up,boat people have been presented new opportunities in the free market.Although some of them seized such opportunities and realized individual upward mobility,when it comes to this social group,it is not the same.According to these depictions,in the fourth part,I discuss factors such as social structure,the group factor featured as above-average age and low level of education,and the individual factor characterized as low level of education and lacking in capabilities,which jointly undermine the social mobility of boat people.In the end,I put forward some suggestions in light of characteristics of the living state of the boat people and factors that affect their social mobility.I also conclude with the shortcomings of the research.