中文摘要：

以东北地区37个地级市市区为研究单元,以1990、1995、2000、2005、2007年的14项社会指标为原始数据,建立社会指标评价体系,并采用评价矩阵及其修正的方法算出各市社会发展水平的得分。以该得分为依据,首先运用GIS技术分析社会发展水平变化的空间特征;随后通过比重法分析分组分化的趋势及分化方向;然后利用Nich值分析各城市社会发展水平的相对变动情况;最后利用相关性分析及定性方法探讨空间分化的主要机制。

英文摘要：

The research of urban social development, which interests Chinese researchers much more than ever before, is one of the important areas of geography studies. This paper examines the spatial differentiation of the urban social development in Northeast China. The authors establish an evaluation system of social indicator which is based on the analysis of the 37 prefectural-level cities in northeast China and 14 social indicators of the years of 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2007. Also, they calculate the scores of social development level of each of prefectural-Level cities by using the evaluation matrix and its correction method. Based on these scores, firstly, the authors analyze the spatial characteristics of the change in social development with GIS technology. Secondly, they examine the direction and the trend of differentiation with the specific gravity method. Thirdly, the relative changes of social development of each prefectural-level city is measured by the Nich method. Finally, the authors research the mechanism of the spatial differentiation with the correlation analysis and the qualitative method. The result shows that （1） the trend of spatial differentiation, which has been obvious in urban social development since 1990 in Northeast China, has been weakened since 2000; （2） spatial differentiation mainly occurred in the cities along the Harbin-Dalian railway, the Shenyang-Shanhaiguan railway and the Manzhouli-Suifenhe railway as well as between the cities in urban agglomerations and other cities; （3） the main factors which impact spatial differentiation of social development in Northeast China are the regional transportation, the investment power, the internal driving force and the market power; （4） the secondary factors which impact spatial differentiation of social development in Northeast China are the regional development policy, the man-made influence and the resource possession.