Life Course Effects of Social Change

本研究将分析政府主导的社会变革对中国个人和家庭的影响。它使用的数据来自1988年春在上海进行的一项调查。当时，随机抽取了1200名年龄在25岁至65岁之间的居民进行了采访。这项研究有三个主要目标。第一个是研究特定社会变化的影响，如学校关闭和城市向农村的迁移，并确定这些变化如何影响1924至1963年间出生的五个不同的男女出生群体。第二个目标是审查家庭过程和结构，并确定社会变化如何影响家庭生活。第三个目标是审查社会变化对个人之间相互依存程度的影响，包括家庭内部和世代之间的相互依存程度。这项研究很重要，因为它将记录这一历史时期的戏剧性社会变化如何对个人和家庭产生深远的影响。在任何地方，这些变化都比不上中华人民共和国的中国更引人注目。

This study will analyze the impact of government-initiated social change on individuals and families in the People's Republic of China. It draws on data from a survey conducted in Shanghai in the spring of 1988. At that time a random sample of 1200 residents, ages 25-65, were interviewed. The study has three principal goals. The first is to examine the effects of specific social changes, such as school closings and urban to rural migration, and to determine how these affected five different birth cohorts of men and women born between 1924 and 1963. The second goal is to examine family processes and structures and to determine how social changes have affected family life. The third goal is to examine the effects of social change on the degree of interdependency among individuals, both within the family and across generations. This study is important because it will document how dramatic social changes in this historical period have had profound consequences for individuals and families. Nowhere have these changes been more striking than in the People's Republic of China.