Is political capital the most important factor? How do the children of civil servants form aspirations to become civil servants?

Abstract

Intergenerational transmission of civil servants is a common phenomenon throughout the world, but the formation mechanisms behind the phenomenon are not well documented. Leveraging causal mediation analyses and the Beijing College Students Panel Survey, this paper investigates the phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of civil servants and its formation mechanisms. The results indicate that civil servants’ children are more likely to aspire to follow their parents’ career choices, and are less likely to aspire to become professional technicians, employees, and business managers. Further analyses indicate that the factors influencing civil servants’ children to follow their parents’ career choice are not their family income or parents’ education, but rather their family's political capital; and not student leadership experience, social skills, or career-related preferences and motivations, but rather their status as Communist Party of China members.