The Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC)

在整个发达世界，社会正在应对两大趋势：需要一支受教育程度更高、更依赖社会技能、具有高度适应性和创造性的劳动力；以及人口结构变化，包括新的家庭结构、性别角色的变化、社会经济梯度很大的人口老龄化以及移徙带来的日益多样化。这些相互关联的趋势对家庭的社会经济福祉和生活机会的代际传递具有重大影响，并对政策制定者提出新的挑战。我们将调查个人和家庭如何应对这些挑战，以及如何应对不断变化的政策优先事项和政治限制，审查它们对福祉和生活机会代际传递的影响，并评估其对政策的影响。这种广泛的研究问题需要一个多学科的团队，以及最高质量的数据和定量分析技能，以实现人口层面的因果推断，这可以为政策提供信息，并提高公众对社会变化的理解。MiSoC团队将包括埃塞克斯大学四个系和布里斯托尔大学一个系的经济学家、社会学家、人口学家、社会政策研究人员、计算机科学家和统计学家。由11名研究人员组成的团队包括7名女性，年龄中值为44岁，这表明我们致力于性别平等，并为新一代培养高级研究领导力。我们还致力于培养下一代社会科学家：除了4名被任命的早期职业研究人员外，中心还将有9个为期2年的博士后研究人员职位、2年期博士前培训职位和6个博士生职位。MiSoC由埃塞克斯大学社会经济研究所(ISER)主办，该研究所于2017年被授予女王周年纪念奖，以表彰其“权威的社会和经济研究，为政府改善人民生活的政策提供信息”，该奖项表彰了MiSoC至少20年来的成功。这项研究分为四个部分，共39个项目。STAND 1的动机是需要了解影响儿童和青少年各种技能产生的因素，这些技能如何在劳动力市场获得回报，以及如何加强这些技能以促进社会流动性和凝聚力。STRAND 2将提高我们对为什么家庭在变化，以及这些变化对经济和健康不平等的影响的理解。Strand 3将使用新的多代和跨国数据源，探索不同社会中的代际传播和交流。我们在Strand 4中的方法学工作计划(社会科学中的机器学习；测量；以及新的大数据来源)反映出，方法学的卓越对于高质量的研究和为政策提供强有力的证据至关重要；它将成为我们为英国社会科学界开展的培训和能力建设活动的支柱之一。该计划将对ESRC的研究重点做出重大贡献，包括生产力(取决于年轻人技能的积累)、心理健康、住房以及卫生和社会保健方面的创新。通过分析家庭中父母对子女的代际传递、人力资本和社会资本在一生中的演变以及产生和维持社会不平等的过程，了解社会流动性和生活机会的社会分配至关重要，而且通过设计福利国家，对政府和其他政策行为者也有相当大的影响。

Across the developed world, societies are responding to two major trends: the need for a labour force that is highly adaptive and creative, with higher levels of education and a greater reliance on social skills; and demographic changes, including new family structures, changing gender roles, a population aging with a strong socio-economic gradient, and growing diversity from migration. These interconnected trends have major implications for the socio-economic wellbeing of families and the intergenerational transmission of life chances, and present new challenges for policy-makers. We will investigate how individuals and families are responding to these challenges, as well as to shifting policy priorities and political constraints, examine their impact on well-being and the intergenerational transmission of life chances, and assess the implications for policy. Such broad research questions necessitate a multi-disciplinary team, and the highest quality data and skills in quantitative analysis to enable population-level causal inference which can inform policy and improve the public understanding of social change. The MiSoC team will involve economists, sociologists, demographers, social policy researchers, computer scientists and statisticians based in four departments of the University of Essex and one at the University of Bristol. The team of 11 investigators includes 7 women, and has a median age of 44, showing our commitment to gender equality, and in developing senior research leadership for the new generation. We are also committed to developing the next generation of social scientists: in addition to 4 named early career researchers, the Centre will have nine 2-year posts for post-doctoral researchers, two years of pre-doctoral level training posts, and six PhD studentships. MiSoC is hosted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, which was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2017 for its "authoritative social and economic research to inform the policies of governments for the improvement of people's lives", an award which recognises the success of MiSoC over at least two decades. The research is organised into four Strands, with 39 projects. Strand 1 is motivated by the need to understand the factors affecting the production of a wide range of skills in childhood and adolescence, how they are rewarded in the labour market, and how they can be enhanced to promote social mobility and cohesion. Strand 2 will improve our understanding of why families are changing, and the implications of these for economic and health inequalities. Strand 3 will explore intergenerational transmission and exchange in a diverse society, using new multigenerational and transnational data sources. Our programme of methodological work (in machine learning in social science; measurement; and new big data sources) in Strand 4 reflects that methodological excellence is crucial to high-quality research and providing robust evidence for policy; it will form one of the pillars of the training and capacity building activities we carry out for the UK social science community.The programme will make a major contribution to the ESRC's research priorities of productivity (which depends on the accumulation of skills amongst young adults); mental health; housing; and innovation in health and social care. It is critical to understanding social mobility and the social distribution of life chances, through the analysis of inter-generational transmission from parents to children within the family, the evolution of human and social capital over the life course, and the processes that generate and maintain social inequalities, and it also has considerable implications for governments and other policy actors, through the design of the welfare state.