Building Halos: How do Chinese elites seek distinction through (mis) recognising studying abroad?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Building Halos

T2 - How do Chinese elites seek distinction through (mis) recognising studying abroad?

AU - Liu, Ye

AU - Huang, Ying

AU - Shen, Wenqin

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Beijing Social Science Fund Project, Doctoral Students’ International Experiences and their Benefits [ 18JYC024 ]. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2022/5/31

Y1 - 2022/5/31

N2 - Why do Chinese elite graduates choose to study abroad? How do they construct boundaries of distinction? We first conceptualise distinction-making as a complex social process which connects individual agency and educational processes with organisational intermediaries. We use a case study of Peking University and draw upon original data consisting of 36 individual interviews, one-month documentation of a poster culture and observational data from eleven study-abroad events. We find a pattern of ‘building triple halos’, which encompasses dual processes of educational emulation and (mis-)recognition. By not recognising those from outside their ‘halos’ (i.e., elite schools, PKU and the Ivy League scholarship-holders), these elites signal superiority by gradually narrowing the circle of ‘us’ and excluding aspirational ‘others’. This individual level of distinction-making is coordinated with collective ‘consensus’, and organisational intermediaries in seeking, justifying, and (mis-)recognising studying abroad as a pathway to distinction. We further reveal the complexity of the ‘identities’ of the PKU elites as both possessors and challengers of distinction. During this process, the agents of the study-abroad industry not only consolidate their client base in PKU but also pursue a new business route of accommodating the challengers.

AB - Why do Chinese elite graduates choose to study abroad? How do they construct boundaries of distinction? We first conceptualise distinction-making as a complex social process which connects individual agency and educational processes with organisational intermediaries. We use a case study of Peking University and draw upon original data consisting of 36 individual interviews, one-month documentation of a poster culture and observational data from eleven study-abroad events. We find a pattern of ‘building triple halos’, which encompasses dual processes of educational emulation and (mis-)recognition. By not recognising those from outside their ‘halos’ (i.e., elite schools, PKU and the Ivy League scholarship-holders), these elites signal superiority by gradually narrowing the circle of ‘us’ and excluding aspirational ‘others’. This individual level of distinction-making is coordinated with collective ‘consensus’, and organisational intermediaries in seeking, justifying, and (mis-)recognising studying abroad as a pathway to distinction. We further reveal the complexity of the ‘identities’ of the PKU elites as both possessors and challengers of distinction. During this process, the agents of the study-abroad industry not only consolidate their client base in PKU but also pursue a new business route of accommodating the challengers.

KW - China

KW - elite

KW - study abroad

KW - distinction

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126599635&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102589

DO - 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102589

M3 - Article

SN - 0738-0593

VL - 91

JO - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

JF - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

M1 - 102589

ER -