"Wide Gap" and "Contempt Chain": Class Differences in Family Education Investment:Empirical Analysis Based on Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

The emergence and development of the middle class groups have highlighted the issue of children's education in this group. Based on the survey data of Living Conditions of Residents in mega-cities, this paper compared the family education investment of the middle class and non-middle class, from the aspects family cultural environment, family education expenditure, private supplementary tutoring, and volunteer activity. The results show that, compared with non-middle class families, the education investment of the middle family is much better. Meanwhile, within the middle class and the non-middle class, there is also a gap between different families in their children's education investment. "Education Gap" and "Contempt Chain" coexist. Influenced by socioeconomic status of the family, the educational investment level of children from different families actually constitutes "a gradual differentiation sequence".