A Study On The Impact Of Family Background On Youth’s Social Mobility Expectations

The study of social stratification and social mobility has been an enduring theme in the field of sociology.Since the 1990 s,a large number of scholars have studied the mode and mechanism of social mobility.However,few scholars have paid attention to residents’ expectation of social mobility,and there is a lack of relevant research on the influencing factors of social mobility expectation.The change of social structure is analyzed from the perspective of vertical history,which provides an important perspective for the study of social mobility.With the proposal of the "China Dream",the practical significance of the study on the expectation of social mobility becomes more prominent.Therefore,based on the data of the Chinese General Social Survey in 2015(CGSS2015),this paper uses the methods of one-way ANOVA,multiple linear regression model and moderating effect analysis to analyze the current situation and group differences of the youth’s social mobility expectation,to explore the impact of family background on youth’s mobility expectation and the gender differences,and further studies the moderating effect of individual education level on the relationship between family background and youth’s mobility expectation.The conclusions of this study are as follows: Firstly,the expectation of youth’s class mobility is optimistic,but it has the characteristics of short span of expectation.Nearly 80% of young people have upward mobility expectations,and less than one tenth of them expect upward mobility at three or more levels.In terms of gender,the social mobility expectation of male is more optimistic.Compared with women,the average social mobility expectation of male is higher,and the span of upward mobility is larger.Secondly,family background has a significant impact on the social mobility expectations of the youth.Specifically,the higher the educational level of the parents is,the more optimistic the social mobility expectation of the youth is;the higher the occupational status of the parents is,the more optimistic the social mobility expectation of the youth is;the youths whose parents are party members are more optimistic than those whose parents are not party members.Moreover,compared to the parents’ educational level and the parents’ party membership,the parents’ occupational status has a greater impact on the mobility expectations of the youth.Thirdly,there are gender differences in the impact of family background on the mobility expectations of youth.For young men,the educational level of their parents,their professional status and their party membership all have significant positive effects on their social mobility expectations,and the professional status and the party membership of their parents have a greater impact on the social mobility expectations than the educational level of their parents.For young women,the educational level of their parents has a significant positive impact on their social mobility expectations,while the professional status and the party membership of their parents have no significant impact on their social mobility expectations.Fourthly,the individual’ education level has a moderating effect on the relationship between family background and the social mobility expectations of the youth.Specifically,the education level of the individual inhibits the positive relationship between the family background and the social mobility expectation of the youth.That is to say,the positive influence of the family background on the social mobility expectation of the youth will be reduced when the youth themselves are highly educated.