Life Course and Family Dynamics in a Comparative Perspective
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Social Science
Abstract
Important social changes are taking place in both China and Europe. They present the two regions with some common challenges, including rising economic inequality, heightened migration, regional imbalance and population ageing.
What are the implications of these social changes for the life course of individuals and families? China and Europe do have different histories, social institutions and cultural traditions. Do they create different kinds of risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities for their citizens? What can Chinese and European scholars, policy-makers and other stakeholders learn from each other's experiences as they formulate policy responses to the common challenges confronting them.
In this project, we use recent, high quality, large-scale and nationally representative household survey data to explore the experience of individuals and families in China, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Moreover, because all respondents of these surveys have been followed through the years and were interviewed multiple times, we gain a deeper insight into how their experiences change over time.
We focus on the key issues that confront people at four stages of their life: (1) child development and schooling, (2) transition to adulthood, (3) security and well-being in middle life, and (4) intergenerational support and well-being in later life.
This project will produce harmonised and fully documented data sets which will be deposited in an international data archive. This will become a key international data resource for scholars and policy-makers who wish to understand the changing population and family dynamics in China and Europe.
In addition, a number of doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars will receive training in this project. These junior scholar as well as the senior scholars of the project will work closely together, fostering Chinese and European collaboration in research on understanding population change.
What are the implications of these social changes for the life course of individuals and families? China and Europe do have different histories, social institutions and cultural traditions. Do they create different kinds of risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities for their citizens? What can Chinese and European scholars, policy-makers and other stakeholders learn from each other's experiences as they formulate policy responses to the common challenges confronting them.
In this project, we use recent, high quality, large-scale and nationally representative household survey data to explore the experience of individuals and families in China, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Moreover, because all respondents of these surveys have been followed through the years and were interviewed multiple times, we gain a deeper insight into how their experiences change over time.
We focus on the key issues that confront people at four stages of their life: (1) child development and schooling, (2) transition to adulthood, (3) security and well-being in middle life, and (4) intergenerational support and well-being in later life.
This project will produce harmonised and fully documented data sets which will be deposited in an international data archive. This will become a key international data resource for scholars and policy-makers who wish to understand the changing population and family dynamics in China and Europe.
In addition, a number of doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars will receive training in this project. These junior scholar as well as the senior scholars of the project will work closely together, fostering Chinese and European collaboration in research on understanding population change.
Planned Impact
The proposed research will inform public debates on many social challenges that are facing China and Europe, e.g., rising inequality, increased migration, regional imbalance, and population ageing. Because we cover almost the entire range of the life course in this project (from child development and education, through the transition to adulthood, and the middle life, to intergenerational exchange and well being in later life), our research should be of interest to a wide range of government departments and non-governmental organisations.
For example, in the UK alone, our work on social mobility and on the inequalities in child development and educational attainment would be of interest to the Sutton Trust, the UK Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, and the Department for Education. Similarly, our work on later life well being and intergenerational support would be of interest to organisations such as AgeUK and Grandparents Plus. We will actively make contacts with these organisations, and their counterparts in China, Germany and the Netherlands.
The findings of this project will also be relevant to organisations that are interested in Europe--China relationship in general, such as the Great Britain China Centre. Our project will also speak to international organisations that are concerned with cross-national population issues, such as the Population Unit of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
By publicising the emerging research findings of our project through the media, members of the general public might also benefit from a better understanding of some of the common population issues facing both regions, and the similarities and differences of the policy responses in China and Europe.
For example, in the UK alone, our work on social mobility and on the inequalities in child development and educational attainment would be of interest to the Sutton Trust, the UK Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, and the Department for Education. Similarly, our work on later life well being and intergenerational support would be of interest to organisations such as AgeUK and Grandparents Plus. We will actively make contacts with these organisations, and their counterparts in China, Germany and the Netherlands.
The findings of this project will also be relevant to organisations that are interested in Europe--China relationship in general, such as the Great Britain China Centre. Our project will also speak to international organisations that are concerned with cross-national population issues, such as the Population Unit of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
By publicising the emerging research findings of our project through the media, members of the general public might also benefit from a better understanding of some of the common population issues facing both regions, and the similarities and differences of the policy responses in China and Europe.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Tak-Wing Chan (Principal Investigator) | |
| John Ermisch (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Chan T
(2022)
The dynamics of relative poverty in China in a comparative perspective
in Chinese Journal of Sociology
Chan T
(2019)
The Dynamics of Income Inequality: The Case of China in a Comparative Perspective
in European Sociological Review
Gruijters R
(2019)
Trends in educational mobility: How does China compare to Europe and the United States?
in Chinese Journal of Sociology
Gruijters R
(2018)
Daughters' and Sons' Remittances in Rural China: Findings From a National Survey
in Journal of Family Issues
Gruijters R
(2018)
Patrilocal, Matrilocal, or Neolocal? Intergenerational Proximity of Married Couples in China
in Journal of Marriage and Family
| Description | We show that levels of income inequality is very much higher in China than in Western countries. We also show that there is considerably more income mobility in China than in the West. Although income mobility might reduced income inequality over time, it turns out that China is much more unequal than the West in terms of long-run income difference. There is also much greater income volatility or insecurity in the short term in China. The findings of our research suggest that thirty years into the market reform, inequality of income and of educational opportunity in China has become a very serious issue and policy challenge in China. We also report very distinctive trends by birth cohort in the association between parental education and the educational outcome of children. While this time trend is largely unsystematic for Western countries, we see a clear increase in this association in China. That is to say, intergenerational educational mobility is getting more difficult for more recent birth cohorts in China. In a second paper we examine poverty dynamics in China, Germany, the UK and the US. There is no doubt that there has been very large reduction in absolute poverty in China over the past few decades. But we show that in a comparative context, relative poverty rate is at much a higher level in China than in the West. This is true not only for the headcount index, but also for indices which take into account the severity of poverty (i.e the poverty gap and the squared poverty gap). Using panel data, we show that over three waves, less than half of Chinese respondents are untouched by relative poverty, compared to 71-87% of respondents in the West. We also show that transient poverty and chronic poverty is much higher in China. Related to this, poverty entry and exit rates are both higher in China than in the West. UK's poverty exit rates are, by one measure, comparable to those of China. As regards predicting poverty entry/exit, we show that they are broadly comparable across countries. But the variance explained is much lower in the Chinese case. In a third paper, we examine the association between parents' and children's educational attainment in China, Germany, the Netherland, the UK and the US. We argue that despite the impressive growth in school enrolment rates in China over the past few decades, various observers have raised concerns about increasing inequality of educational opportunity. We show that China's economic boom has been accompanied by a strong increase in educational inequality. Educational inequality was low for those Chinese who grew up under state socialism. But for the most recent cohort, it has reached a level that is comparable to those of European countries, though it is still below that of the US. We discuss possible reasons for this finding, as well as implications for the comparative study of educational inequality. In a fourth paper, we examine the patterns of intergenerational proximity in China and analyses the structural conditions that are associated with couples' proximity to the husband's and the wife's parents. We show that almost 75% of married Chinese couples live with or in close proximity to the husband's parents. There is, however, a strong social gradient in intergenerational proximity, and patrilocality is particularly pronounced among rural-origin and less-educated couples. Matrilocal residence remains unusual, although it is more likely when the wife has no brothers. In a fifth paper, we study intergenerational contact. We analyse the frequency of (a) visits and (b) other contact (phone, text message, etc.) in a representative sample of 16,715 adult child-parent dyads. We focus on the role of migration as well as children's gender, marital status, and education level. We show that in China adult children generally maintained intensive social relations with parents, although distance was a major barrier to face-to-face contact. Sons visited more often than daughters, but daughters were more likely to stay in touch by other means. Moreover, the strength of parent-daughter ties was strongly dependent on education level. These findings suggest that women's empowerment and the spread of mobile technology have created new opportunities for intergenerational solidarity. |
| Exploitation Route | We are continuing our research, presenting our results in academic conferences and sending them to scholarly journals. This should stimulate academic interests in this area of research. At the same time, we are trying to organise meetings with think tanks and policy colleagues to ensure that our research could speak to their concerns. |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | The UK team of the project do not have non-academic impact to report. But our Chinese colleagues on the project reported the following. (The text below is written by Professor Mengjie Lyu, now at University of Illinois.) We summarize the economic and societal impact arising from our research in the following two aspects: 1) Our research provides suggestions and empirical evidence for China's policy changes, and deepens the understanding of the policy issues. In 2021, the research finding on the background, significance, and challenges of popularization of high-school education based on cross-country comparisons (Xie et al., 2019) was introduced on two digital news media platforms (Jiemian News and Sina Finance News) and generated public discussion. The popularization of high-school education was included in the 2023 government work report as one important progress in the last five years . 2) Our research deepens the understanding of policy issues such as inequality and social mobility, and reframes debates via public seminars, webinars, workshops, and new digital media platforms. From 2016 to 2021, the research findings on cross-country comparison of social mobility, child development, and demographic transition had been presented in five public seminars/webinars (see Table 1) and had been introduced in eight articles (listed in References) published on four digital media platforms. Participants and audiences of these discussions consist of citizens of diverse demographics and socio-economic backgrounds. Through these discussions, debates about social issues such as the increasing difficulty for rural students to get into good universities and fertility policy shifts were reframed with theoretical interpretation and cross-country comparisons. Table 1. Public seminars/webinars in which the research findings have been presented since 2016 Date Location Organizer Topics 01/09/2016 Shanghai Wenhui Daily The Characteristics of the Chinese Society July 2017 Beijing Zhishifenzi (Digital media platform) Reflections on the College Entrance Examination 06/29/2020 Online The Johns Hopkins University - Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies The Changes of Family in Contemporary China 04/23/2021 Online The Johns Hopkins University - Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies The Populations Studies in China 11/10/2021 Online Renmin University of China The impact of Economic Inequality on Social and Demographic Outcomes in China References Xie, Y., Li, W., & Jin, Y. (2019). The Popularization of High-school Education: Background, Significance and Challenges. Journal of Peking University. 56 (4): 122-135. Li, W., Qian, Y., and Jin, Y. An Interview with Yu Xie: Chinese Families and Marriages Are Changing Dramatically. Ms-Muses. 2016.06.19. http://zhishifenzi.com/column/newcolumn/2446.html Hotchkiss, M. Why Do Asian American Students, On Average, Outperform Their White Classmates? Zhishifenzi. 2016.08.17. http://zhishifenzi.com/depth/depth/2256.html Li, W. and Jin, Y. Why Do Women Have Increasing Achievements in China? Ms-Muses. 2017.01.03. http://zhishifenzi.com/depth/depth/1872.html Zandonella, C. Documenting a Rapidly Developing China. Zhishifenzi. 2018.02.15. http://zhishifenzi.com/depth/depth/1262.html An Interview with Yu Xie: Demographic Research in an Interdisciplinary Perspective. Renkou8gua. 2018.09.09. https://fem.pku.edu.cn/xbdt/txzb/87649.htm Wu, Y., An Interview with Yu Xie: How Would China be Coping with the Second Demographic Transition. Thepaper. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_4750357 Zhang, L. et al. Contemporary Chinese Families Pursue More Individual Freedom, But Remain Child-Centered. Zhishifenzi. 2020.07.13. http://zhishifenzi.com/depth/depth/9569.html Zhou, X. et al. An Interview with Yu Xie: How to Study the Chinese Society. Zhishifenzi. 2023.02.14. http://zhishifenzi.com/news/multiple/12812.html |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal |