“相对教育”对代际地位传递的作用

The Effect of“Relative Education”on Intergenerational Status Transmission

基于“相对教育”理论假说,本文利用2003年至2015年中国综合社会调查数据,考察了教育扩张对中国城市代际地位传递的影响机制。当教育被视为一种位置性商品时,教育扩张导致劳动力市场中教育相对价值下降。研究发现,随着教育相对价值的下降,家庭阶层背景对地位获得的作用逐渐增强,并且家庭阶层背景的作用大于家庭教育背景的作用。这一发现有利于解释既有研究关于教育扩张是否减少社会不平等的争论,其现实意义在于:当教育文凭无法帮助子女迈过预期的地位获得“门槛”时,父母将倾注更多资源弥补子女教育竞争优势的不足,以帮助子女获得预期社会地位。

Based on the relative education theory,this paper used the Chinese General Social Survey data from 2003 to 2015 to examine the influence mechanism of educational expansion on the transmission of intergenerational social status in Chinese urban areas.When education is regarded as a positional good,the educational expansion will erode the value of education in the labor market.This study found that the influence of family background on status acquisition gradually increased along with the decline in the relative value of education in the labor market,and the influence of family background was greater than that of family educational background.This finding helps explain the current debate about whether educational expansion reduces social inequality.Its practical significance lies in that,when the education diploma cannot help the children cross the expected status“threshold”,the parents will afford more resources to make up for the deficiency of children's education competitive advantage,so as to help children obtain the expected social status.