Peking University, September 22, 2019: Invited by the High-End Academic Lecture Program of Peking University, Michael Hout, professor of sociology at New York University, academician of the United States National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts & Sciences, visited Peking University from September 10 till 15.

On the evening of September 12, Michael Hout gave an academic lecture on “higher education and social mobility” at PKU Center for Social Research. The report made an in-depth discussion about the effect of educational attainment and social mobility in the classic intergenerational transmission model of Blau and Duncan, revealing their trend of changes from 1994 to 2018, based on statistics of the General Social Survey (GSS).

Michael Hout explaining the effect of education on intergenerational transmission

Michael Hout also exchanged his opinions on individual career development and academic issues with young teachers and graduate students, inspiring them with his own experiences. Besides, he attended meetings of the international advisory committee of China Family Panel Studies and raised constructive suggestions on the design, implementation, and development of the project.

Hout discussing with teachers from the Center for Social Research

On the afternoon of September 14, Michael Hout addressed a keynote speech at the Lecture Hall of No.2 Gymnasium. During the lecture, Hout explained the demographic mechanism of the historical changes in modern American society from different perspectives. Professor Xie Yu from PKU Center for Social Research and professor Donald Treiman from the UCLA Department of Sociology made comments on his speech.

Michael Hout addressing his keynote speech

The series activities attracted teachers and students both inside and outside the university and effectively promoted the exchange and cooperation in the empirical studies of social sciences.

Written by: Liu Chang
Edited by: Zhou Yijing
Source: PKU News (Chinese)