Relying On Career Or Marriage?

Social mobility is a social phenomenon which focuses on the transfer of members' social status changed from a certain position to another. It is an important research area in sociology and demography. However domestic researchers didn't pay much attention to women's social mobility until recent years. If we regard career as a routine path and marriage as an alternative one for women's social mobility, what's the present situation about women's social mobility under each of these ways? Through the pursuit of this question, this paper concerned about special obstacles faced by women in contemporary China especially during the process of upward mobility.Based on Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) which was carried out by Renmin University of China in 2006, the study used crosstab table to describe and interpret women's social mobility. Through the two threads of career and marriage, the author measured women's status mobility relaying on their own professional, and examined their mobility opportunities from marriage. Grounded on the explanation above, the paper attempted to presenting women's social mobility conditions in contemporary China, and comparing the different effects of career and marriage on women's social mobility.The study found that there are several characteristics on women's social mobility mechanism in contemporary China:structure of social class for women tends to be closed; the upward transfer process is "stagflation" for women; the routine channel (career) is not smooth and the traditional channel (marriage) can be complement.