How did Anxiety over Educational Background become a Collective Concern?

Recently, many interesting trendy words emerged on the internet, such as "double-non Masters" (referring to those who received their Master's degrees from colleges that are not identified as "world class", or colleges that have no academic disciplines defined as having the potential to become "first class" and hence enjoy special central government support), "problem solvers from small towns", "985 blind-dating group" (985 colleges: generally believed to be the best of their kind in China), "parents from Haidian District" (Haidian District: a district in Beijing known for its educational resources, intensity, and competitiveness), and so on. Behind the new vocabulary, there is a common characteristic: whether it is employment anxiety, marriage and relationship anxiety, or child rearing anxiety, these are all related to the anxiety over educational background. In addition, this anxiety is not limited to individuals, but has become a collective concern on the societal level.

From the perspective of sociology, we can find the basic orientations in the anxiety over academic background: people are not only pursuing upwards mobility, but are also avoiding the opposite. Specifically, through the pursuit of a better academic background, young people hope to find a better job, a better partner, and a more promising future. Essentially, people hope to realize individual and familial upward mobility in the social hierarchy, and avoid downward mobility by cultivating the next generation.

Behind this social phenomenon is a structural impetus: we are living in a society that is moving upwards as a whole. In the book "The Credential Society", notable sociologist Randall Collins described and analyzed the stage and conditions of this period of society. He found that in the mid-20th century, the entire social atmosphere in the United States was fueled by a determination to transcend one's social hierarchy through one's own efforts, to ultimately reach an affluent life. However, the entire social atmosphere was also driven by a culture of success which puts money above all. Society revered people who made a great fortune overnight, which imperceptibly caused everyone to be immensely pressurized, as they all hoped to achieve success in a short time.

During this process, "credential society" was gradually formed, where by attaining a diploma from the business school or engineering school of a renowned university, one would be able to secure a job with a higher social status, could marry someone from a higher social hierarchy, and could gain access to a circle with more socio-economic superiority. College diploma hence became the key to employment, marriage, and enhancing the social status of the next generation. Therefore, the competition and anxiety surrounding college diploma and educational background became core issues of society.

Since the reform and opening up and China's rapid economic growth, social opportunities constantly emerge, and many people achieved better living standards with their own efforts. They attained more wealth and higher social statuses, and society overall is in an upward mobilizing condition. Living in such a society is like living in the ocean among a shoal of sardine fish who are rapidly moving forward, where slightly slowing down would make you feel pressurized. Therefore, in the current social atmosphere, education as a necessary path that everyone must go through became the main area producing the anxiety over educational background. In addition, it has to do with employment, marriage, and raising the future generation.

Then, must individuals submit to this societal impact? Not entirely. Individualization is the key to social development. Every individual is different, and a piece of diploma cannot determine a person's first or second half of life. Though it would be great to enter the "985 blind-dating group", we can only gain happiness by finding the right person. Otherwise, we have to undergo the torment of constantly picking others and being picked. Moreover, it would be great if we have the ability to afford expensive tutoring classes for our children and let them attend international competitions and study abroad. Nevertheless, the most important premise of education is allowing children to grow up with both physical and psychological health. The responsibility of parents are not only to provide opportunities for tutoring and studying aboard.

Through observation, we realize that the individual's troubles always stem from social structures, where the cause of structural problems cannot be overcome by the individual alone. After continuous high-speed growth, China's economy is now slowing down, which causes challenges for the job market and the composition of talent structure. In addition, unbalanced development and still unsophisticated institutional norms are colliding with people's increasingly beautiful life. Just like an individual who walks out of campus and realizes that life has many tasks awaiting him/her, the current Chinese society is also in a period of social transformation, which requires more disciplines to join in to conduct research and think collectively.

Contributed by Yan Fei, associate professor at the Department of Sociology, Tsinghua University

Translated by Zhang Junye