Presentation Schedule
Rising from Rural Roots: Exploring the Success Factors of Rural Students Who Entered College in the 1980s (94284)
Session Chair: Hei-hang Hayes Tang
Thursday, 15 May 2025 15:35
Session: Session 4
Room: Room 605 (6F)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, education opportunities were closely tied to family background, typically only available to the gentry class (Liu, 2016). Since then, national policies have gradually shifted in favour of the proletarian class. China’s college admission policies also changed in accordance with national policies and social movement. The trend of rural peasants rising to become college-educated city residents reached its peak in the 1980s following the resumption of the College Entrance Exam. The rural college students who achieved upward social mobility through education at the time, provide an important sample for analyzing how historical events, meritocratic and non-meritocratic factors interplayed in the journey of rural students pursuing higher education and how these factors impacted their subsequent social mobility. Through 35 in-depth interviews with rural college students who held rural residency and entered college in the 1980s, this study looks into the factors that contributed to their higher education opportunities. The study applies Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and habitus to examine the key influences on educational opportunities of these rural students.
Authors:
Hong Chen, Duke University, United States
About the Presenter(s)
Hong Chen, PhD student, social mobility and higher education, social mobility of first-generation rural College students
See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule
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