Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines how upward social mobility shapes Chinese women's workplace experiences by applying social comparison theory and asking which structural-related factors most strongly influence women's perceptions of-and strategies for-occupational advancement in contemporary China. Employing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling on 4,043 Zhihu comments under the "involution" discussion, we identify five operational dimensions-economic reward-value alignment, work burden, institutional environment, resource distribution, and individual agency-that collectively explain variation in perceived mobility opportunities. Our results show that misalignment between compensation and perceived professional worth, coupled with excessive instructional and emotional labor, constitutes a primary barrier, whereas supportive institutional policies and strong professional identity mitigate constraints. These findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and educational leaders to reform compensation structures and workload management, thereby fostering more equitable career advancement for women in China.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Authors: Wei Ding, Wen-Cheng Wang
Institution: Yango University
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W4414351407