Rural-urban gap and career preparation trajectories in a Chinese elite university

ABSTRACT

Following Bourdieu’s classic work on habitus and field, scholars use habitus fit/misfit to distinguish students’ college experience but how students’ experiences habitus misfit and transformation in relation to their career preparation process remains understudied. This study conducted longitudinal in-depth interviews with 32 students at an elite university in China from 2014 to 2018. We highlight that how students think about the future and design plans to achieve it is an important part of reflexivity in shaping habitus transformation. A reconciliation between students’ reflexive deliberation about future and the blueprint of career preparation path promoted on campus led to a range of creative and multi-faceted career preparation trajectories––habitus fits can be fluid. These trajectories present ideal or rational views of future careers pertaining to students’ family backgrounds. This study sheds light on the mechanism that shapes inequality in higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Career construction
• habitus
• reflexivity
• urban-rural gap
• china

Acknowledgments

This project received financial supported from the Grant “The Career Planning of Contemporary Chinese College Students: Mechanisms and Policy Implications,” issued by The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (19YB088) and the Grant “The Career Planning of Chinese College Students: Process of Cultivation,” issued by Shanghai Education and Health System Ideological and Political Work Research Association (2020-D-006). The data collection was also supported by the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University. A previous version was presented in 2019 Winter Meeting of the Social Stratification and Mobility Section, Chinese Sociological Association. We thank Ke Xu, Xiaohui Zhao, Huaxian Wang, Weihua Zhang, Yunyu Yangzhang, Yilin Wu, Qiang Zhu, Jie Xing, Zhixuan Xiang, Yunru Tian, Danni Liang, and Wenjuan Tian for their help with data collection and research feedback. No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League [19YB088].

Notes on contributors

Lin Chen

Lin Chen, PhD, (University of California, Los Angeles) is an Associate Professor at Fudan University. Her research interests include identity, interaction, long-term care, and qualitative research methods.

Felicia F. Tian

Felicia F. Tian is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Fudan University. Her research interests include transition to adulthood, social networks, and social stratification and mobility in Chinese society.