Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Structure and Personality in Transitional Urban China

本研究将透过职业自我导向的连结，检视转型期中国城市社会结构与个体人格的关系。市场体制和社会主义计划经济体制遗产的相互作用表明了一个与前苏联和东欧社会激进社会变革道路不同的过渡过程。在转型期的中国，社会结构与人格的关系可能与完全的资本主义社会、社会主义社会，甚至与前苏联和东欧的转型期社会有很大的不同。这项研究将在中国最大的工业城市上海进行。它将采用三阶段随机抽样策略来收集主要调查数据。调查对象为500名在调查时属于劳动人口的本市户籍居民。在实际调查之前将进行预测试，以保证在面试时间表中包含语言和文化上有效的问题。实际调查将以面对面访谈的形式进行。本研究采用严格的验证性因子分析和结构方程模型，将是国内首次对社会结构与个体人格关系的研究。本研究更广泛的影响在于，它有可能弥合社会学家对社会结构的研究与心理学家对人格的研究在中国研究中的差距。它将为社会政策提供重要信息，帮助纠正对中国城市正在进行的转型的心理后果缺乏了解的问题。

The proposed research will examine the relationship between social structure and individual personality through the linkage of occupational self-direction in urban China in transition. The interplay of market institution and institutional legacy of the socialist planned economy indicates a transitional process different from the path of radical social change in the former Soviet and East European societies. The relationship between social structure and personality in transitional China may be quite different from that in fully capitalist societies, in socialist societies, and even in the transitional societies of the former Soviet Union and East Europe. The research will be conducted in Shanghai, the largest industrial city in China. It will employ a three-stage random sampling strategy to collect primary survey data. A sample of 500 registered residents of the city proper who are in the labor force at the time of survey will be yielded. A pretest will be conducted before the actual survey to warrant linguistically and culturally valid questions to be included in the interview schedule. The actual survey will be conducted in the form of face-to-face interviews. Using rigorous confirmatory factor analysis and structural-equation modeling, the proposed research will be the first study of the relationship between social structure and individual personality in China. The broader impact of this research lies in its potential to bridge the gap in research on China between the study of social structure by sociologists and the study of personality by psychologists. It will provide important information for social policy, helping to rectify a paucity of knowledge about the psychological consequences of ongoing transition in urban China.