Social Occupational Classes and Higher-Education Opportunities in Contemporary China: A Study on the Distribution of a Scarce Social Capital

Abstract

Based on the several surveys conducted since the 1990s onward, this paper aims to demonstrate that in terms of the access to higher education, social class differentiation is far starker than that of urban/rural income in contemporary China. According to the investigation that focused on students enrolled in 37 universities, the chance of farmers  children to have a higher education is 5.6 times lower than that of nonfarmers. If we compare the chance of government and party officials  children with that of farmers  children, the ratio will rise to nearly 18:1. More seriously, the recent boom in higher education has not lessened but, in fact, worsened the structural factors of this inequality. The skyrocketing tuition fee constitutes an escalating fence that keeps the children from low-income, marginalized families away from acquiring higher education.

Keywords

social classes, opportunity in higher education, education equality