ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 is the first chapter that presents the results with tables/figures, case interviews, and comments. Our survey on the factors in choosing occupations reflects people’s work values. The differences in the perceptions of working purposes between the youth and the elderly illustrate the trend for young people to pursue new work values, which promote personal fulfillment and enjoyment but de-emphasize the spirit of dedicating oneself to the country and society. In this chapter, we used close-ended questions to observe people’s working purposes which showed obvious differences among different generations. Our survey results also showed that people from different age groups provided different answers to the working enthusiasm incentives. There were more material pursuits and increased desires for material enjoyment, all happening within the decade after the reforming and opening up of China. The investigation on the ranking of occupational prestige reflects people’s work values as well as the public evaluations of various occupations in the society. Any choices people make are purposeful, which are the external realizations of human rationality.
