We describe a common social phenomenon in this article. It is that when children grow up, in addition to their talents and efforts in comparison with their peers, the parental background between children is also an important stake in their competition. Parents’ social status and superior power will result in more social resources and opportunities for children. We call this phenomenon “parents privilege competition”. The root cause of this phenomenon is the serious hardening of the stratum and the poor social mobility in vertical society, which makes it difficult for children to have an equal competitive environment. After analyzing the phenomenon, this article discusses the causes of this phenomenon and the solutions.
It is another year in the graduation; do you have successfully found a job in one million job seekers? If you don’t, you’ll have to work harder because you may not only have to compete with your peers, you have to compete with their parents and their business foundation, network relationship. Yes, this is the phenomenon that we are currently flooding in society at the moment―“parents privilege competition”. We have to face these competitions from you were young: If your parents don’t have a good job, a prominent background, you may not even have the qualifications for joining kindergartens never say to pay sponsorship fees; when you find a job you may be replaced even you are the best because of others’ “backdoor”. Admission opportunities are easily squeezed out, especially for state-owned enterprises and civil servants. In life, even you see a doctor, buy a car or a car license, priority relations are always the top rank to enjoy it. If you complain about this social injustice, you can only say, who makes your dad not Li Gang? At this point, we have discovered that the privileged and elite classes that we have always wanted to eliminate have not only been eliminated or narrowed down, but have become increasingly divided. If “parents privilege competition” is understandable, then why can’t we practice that too? or whether our children can rely on our generation and have this opportunity? Thinking further, this is actually a problem of vertical social mobility. Vertical social mobility refers to changes in the social status of social members, including personal vertical mobility and intergenerational mobility.
In recent years, China’s economy has experienced rapid growth and has become the world’s second largest economy. However, the social system and development environment are lagging behind. The results of economic growth have not been fully enjoyed by all citizens. We think social status liquidity will affect poverty governance [
“The Great Gatsby” describes the United States as a country of equality of opportunity and equality of belief. Everyone can work hard to realize their dreams. Compared with China, we do not seem to have equal opportunities even. Studies show that the children who have high-income fathers in Denmark earn only 5% more than children of low-income fathers, while the gap in China is 60% (the wage differential between the two fathers is two times); there is an institution in the UK that investigates social mobility. They once pointed out that if some of the top jobs in the UK are managed by the “rich second generation”. The government will then exert pressure on the employment agencies to make the employment opportunities more transparent. Another example is the report of the “Chinese Contemporary Social Mobility” report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The opportunity for cadres’ children to become cadres is more than twice that of non-cadres’ children [
It is only a small number of people can afford to the “parents privilege fight”. Your father counted on the help of your grandfather, and you relied on your father’s help. Some idioms say that: all three generations were in civil aviation, and a whole family of electricity, farmer’s children are farmers. This may be measured by the “vertical social mobility” or the “intergenerational income elasticity” in economics. Intergenerational income elasticity refers to the extent to which the father’s economic income affects the economic income or economic status of the offspring.
The following analyzes the reasons for this phenomenon in China from the perspective of economics.
First, for a long-term China’s rule of law system is imperfect and lacks of fair competition environment and rules, unfair opportunities have brought about unfair results and unfair income. In 2015, the World Justice Project released the “World Justice Engineering Rule of Law Index” of 102 countries in the world. China’s score of 0.48 is lower than the average of 0.5683, ranking 71st, and ranking 26 among 31 high and middle income countries [
Second, the government-run enterprises in the economic field have excessively squeezed the living space of private enterprises. In recent years, some government-run enterprises have forcibly acquired private enterprises. For example, Foshan Lighting was acquired by Guangdong Electronic Information Group under the Guangdong SASAC in 2015, Hebei Iron and Steel Group acquires Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Company in 2010. State-owned enterprises that had previously withdrawn from non-competitive sectors have re-entered industries such as the real estate industry. And reclosed areas that are open to private enterprises such as aviation, steel, and coal. On the other hand, private enterprises are difficult to borrow from banks and have high loan interest rates. Many private enterprises are bankrupt because of the break of the capital chain. The following
Third, poor social mobility, difficult to transfer between generations. Here we quote the “Great Gatsby Curve” to illustrate. The following
mobility shows that anyone can squeeze into the high-income class by struggling. It is relatively easy for the poor generation to start from scratch. Even if the father is a high-income earner, this kind of advantage has little impact on the child’s income after adulthood. On the contrary, low liquidity means that economic status is often determined by their parents. At this time, it is particularly important for a parent who has prominent and wealthy power. The following figure shows that the gap between the rich and the poor in our country is large and the intergenerational mobility is poor. It is very difficult for the poor to have the opportunity to develop into the upper class, and it is easy for wealthy people to continue their labor achievements to the next generation.
For this phenomenon, the corresponding solution is proposed:
First, improve China’s legal system and create a relatively fair development environment. For example, to improve the labor law, strengthen employers’ awareness of fairness in job application, ensure that everyone has the same opportunity to show themselves in recruitment and promotion, and do not leave jobs to relative households or family members of internal employees. For example, to improve the methods of reporting, the school must be fair and just in the review of students, and cannot conceal or falsify the results of any one of the students. It cannot accept the students who are recommended by the privileged, nor can they squeeze the number of regular students. Effective rule of law helps reduce corruption, eradicate poverty, improve health care and education, and protect people from harm caused by injustice. Therefore, even if it is expected to be resisted and opposed by interest groups, the state should also support relevant departments to investment capital and pay determination to devote to the improvement of the legal environment. We must understand that the pains of gradual reforms or leapfrog reforms are more meaningful than the lags in the development and inefficiency by corruption and unfair environment.
Second, follow the laws of the market and let it benefit the people. Every industry must abide by the laws of the market and allow it to develop freely. There must be no hostile acquisition of M&As by state-owned enterprises, and the SMEs must not be squeezed out of the market by using the inherent advantages of the state-owned enterprises with abundant funds, in order to form a monopoly situation. For private enterprises with good momentum of development, the state or local government should give priority to support and guide them to lead the development of other small and medium-sized enterprises and form a flourishing prosperity.
Third, to enhance social mobility, here specifically refers to the flow of population, that is, the Hukou system should be lifted. In fact, the call for reform of the Hukou system has already come out, perhaps because it is obstructed by interest groups, perhaps the reform costs are too great and the consequences of the reform are difficult to control, the government departments have not been able to cure this disease. However, the Hukou system not only restricted the flow of the population, but also restricted the flow of ideas. In the long run, China’s creativity would have been even lower. Children in rural households, their level of education, the choice of work, and even their future prospects will be greatly discounted because of the Hukou issue. Residents of large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will also have a sense of superiority in their accounts, and be comfortable with the status quo. The privilege Hukou also brings them educational resources working resources, etc., makes it easier for upper class people in cities to consolidate their achievements. Looking at the geographical consequences of the restrictions on account registration, the authorities should make up their minds to start drastic reforms or pilot projects.
In fact, there are class divisions in all countries, but it should be ensured that every class can move freely. In China, the stratum is too hard to cure and vertical flow is increasingly difficult. We once believed that a fair future can be achieved through fairness and hard work. However, everything is changing. China’s wealth is far more concentrated than that of the United States and Japan currently. Opportunity is unequal because of the powerful forces of privilege everywhere. The younger generation struggles to survive and escape from the big cities. According to a research report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the middle layer in China only accounts for 23% of the population, which is lower than the proportion of 70% in the developed countries [
Perhaps we only need to be provided a stage for equal opportunities. As for the income problem, let everyone use their market enthusiasm to adjust the differences.
Guo, X.M. (2018) When “Parents Privilege Competition” Will Not Be an Exclusive Resource? Open Journal of Social Sciences, 6, 39-47. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2018.64004