Educational Equity and Social Stratification: A Comparative Study of Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-430-3_21How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Educational equity; Social stratification; Educational resources; Family background

Abstract

In the context of China’s rapid development, the issue of educational equity has become increasingly important. This research focuses on the impact of social stratification on educational equity, taking Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui as examples. By using data analysis and relevant theoretical frameworks, the study reveals significant disparities in educational equity among these regions. Shanghai, with abundant educational resources, demonstrates higher educational equity. Jiangsu has regional imbalances, while Anhui is delayed compared to others, especially in rural areas with large urban-rural gaps. What’s more, regarding family background in educational attainment, high-income families in Shanghai can afford expensive international schools and tutoring, while low-income families in Anhui’s rural areas may give up children’s educational opportunities due to cost. The results show that social stratification, reflected in family income, parental educational capital, and social class solidification, has a profound impact on educational opportunities and outcomes. Family income determines educational expenditure, affecting children’s access to various educational resources. Parental educational capital and socioeconomic status provide extra learning resources for children of high-status families, widening the educational gap. Social class solidification restricts upward mobility for lower-class groups across generations. In addition, the research concludes that efforts are needed to narrow regional educational resource gaps and promote equitable access to high-quality education for all students to break the cycle of social class solidification.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Linqin Sun
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/22
TI  - Educational Equity and Social Stratification: A Comparative Study of Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui
BT  - Proceedings of the  2025 3rd International Conference on Language, Innovative Education and Cultural Communication (CLEC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 161
EP  - 172
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-430-3_21
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-430-3_21
ID  - Sun2025
ER  -