An Analysis of Social Mobility in Contemporary Shanghai

Abstract

This thesis topic is social mobility in contemporary Shanghai. After China became the second-largest economic entity in the world, it has faced the same social problems as the South Korea and Japan, such as a declining economic growth rate, ageing population, declining fertility rate, rising divorce rate, and declining social mobility. This research focused on analysing the reason for social inequality in contemporary Shanghai and the problem it posed to social mobility in Shanghai. This thesis mainly studies social mobility in Shanghai from four aspects. The first part is the historical background of the hukou system and the reduction of social mobility caused by its negative impact. The second part is to use the ISEI (International Socio-Economic Index) model to measure the changes in social mobility in Shanghai from 2003 to 2019. This part mainly quantifies overall social mobility through structural changes in the labour market. The third part is to explore the impact of education on social mobility, including educational inequity and educational level. The overall education level in Shanghai is improving faster than the industrial upgrading in the labour market, leading to a gradual decline in the competitiveness of academic qualifications in the labour market. The fourth part is that Shanghai's overall expenditure level is higher than in the past, including a higher macro tax burden rate and higher basic necessities expenditures, especially the growth of housing expenditures.