INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY IN MODERN CHINA

In this article, we study patterns of intergenerational mobility in mo dern China. We use data from the Social Structure in Modern China Surv ey, which was conducted in 1988 among urban and rural populations of t wo municipalities and four provinces in mainland China. Both absolute mobility and relative mobility rates are examined with regard to theor etical propositions relevant to industrialism and socialism. Of emergi ng patterns, we find no evidence in support of increasing upward mobil ity of the working population. Instead, total mobility and upward mobi lity from farm origins into manual destinations, and from farm and man ual origins into non-manual destinations reflect changing state polici es in economic development, control over population movement and spons orship of farm and working class origins. Trends of social fluidity sh ow no monotonically increasing openness for three ten year cohorts of men and women. Compared with men, class allocation is more strongly re lated to class origin for women.