The Concept Of Chinese Family Child-rearing Class Differences

Based on the survey data from both the Chinese General Social Survey2006(CGSS2006) and Shanghai Family Survey2010(SHFS2010), by using the ordinal logit model, this paper proves the social class theory impacts on Chinese parental value today. According to the research, as the same as western countries, the new middle-class family of China are more likely puts emphasis on children’s independence, which includes the education of consideration, self-reliance,imagination and democratic expression etc; while the working-class family are more likely emphasis on the value of conformity. Unlike the existing studies, we find there are not obvious difference between the old middle-class family and the working-class family. In addition, this paper cannot prove Cohen’s strong emphasis that working conditions can explain the effect of occupational class on the parental value. We also find that the cultural transmission and family revenue can partial explain the effect that social class on parental value. Lastly, besides the values, the new middle-class family of China pays more attention to communicate with their children in language than the working-class family in the nurturing practice.