Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Mobility and Attained Social Position

PI：Melvin L. Kohn Co-PI：殷悦机构：约翰霍普金斯大学博士论文研究：社会流动性和获得的社会地位奖号：摘要：关注农村到城市的移民，谁是错过了在中国进行的大多数社会学研究，这个研究项目将评估两个基本的社会过程的理论解释：社会流动性，和在社会结构中的地位与人格的关系。将探讨以下问题：高度工业化国家发展的一般社会流动模式是否可直接适用于从农村到城市的移徙者？我们应该重新考虑哪些方面，以及我们应该如何修改现有的模型，以更全面地了解农村到城市的流动过程？是人吗？在当前的制度设置下，他们在社会结构中的当前位置或他们在社会结构中的初始位置，影响他们的个性，或两者兼而有之？农村出身会对人们产生永久性影响吗？后来的性格？农民工的社会结构与人格特征之间的关系是什么？这种关系与城市出身的人有什么不同吗？为了回答这些问题，我们将利用本研究的数据、中国综合社会调查的数据以及2006年由Kohn及其合作者进行的NSF支持的调查的结果和数据，对流动人口和其他适当人群进行比较分析。数据收集将在中国北京进行。将采用地图抽样和常规随机抽样相结合的方法来寻找这些农民工，并进行定量调查和深入的案例研究。研究结果将通过会议文件和学术出版物传播。这项研究将激发学者们？在中国的大多数调查中，农村到城市的流动人口通常代表性不足。它将为学者和决策者提供一个机会，重新思考未能包括这部分城市人口的研究结果和结论的局限性。本研究的发现有助于学者和政策制定者更好地了解中国城市中的流动人口，并帮助他们制定政策，以克服对农村移民的歧视，这是转型期中国最重要的社会问题之一。

PI: Melvin L. Kohn Co-PI: Yin YueInstitution: Johns Hopkins UniversityTitle: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Mobility and Attained Social PositionAward Number: Abstract:Focusing on rural-to-urban migrants, who were missed in most sociological studies conducted in China, this research project will assess theoretical interpretations of two fundamental social processes: social mobility, and the relationship of position in the social structure to personality. The following questions will be explored: Could the general social mobility models developed in highly industrialized countries be applied directly to the rural-to-urban migrants? What aspects should we reconsider and how should we revise current models to understand the mobility process of rural-to-urban migrants more comprehensively? Is it people?s current positions in the social structure under current institutional setting or their initial positions in the social structure that affects their personalities, or both? Will rural origin have permanent effects on people?s later personality? What are the relationships of social structure and personality for rural migrants to cities? Do such relationships differ from those of people who have urban origins? To answer these questions, comparative analyses will be conducted between the migrants and other appropriate populations, using data of this study, data of China General Social Survey, and the findings and data of an NSF-supported survey conducted by Kohn and his collaborators in 2006. The data collection will be conducted in Beijing, China. A combination of map-sampling and normal random sampling procedures will be used to find these rural-to-urban migrants, and both quantitative survey and intensive case study will be conducted. Results from this research will be disseminated through conference papers and academic publications. This proposed research will stimulate scholars? interest in doing quantitative studies of rural-to-urban migrants who are generally underrepresented in most surveys in China. It will offer scholars and policymakers a chance to rethink the limitations of findings and conclusions from studies that failed to include this segment of urban population. The findings of this research may help scholars and policymakers better understand the migrant population in urban China, and help them in making policies that can overcome discrimination against rural migrants, which is recognized as one of the most crucial social problems in transitional China.