Who Can Study Abroad on Government Funding? Analysis Through Bourdieu's Concept of Capital

• In Event: 15.060 - MTCC Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: 15.060-8 - Multiple Perspectives on Structural and Cultural Inequalities Across International Contexts

Abstract

Access to educational opportunities has been a concern of educational researchers and policy makers. While many researches have discussed preferences and discrimination in the admission process to elite universities among particular ethnic and socio-economic groups, few studies have addressed issues of potential unequal access to overseas studies. This study compares 30 students’ overseas studies experiences in the Taiwan government’s three fellowship and loan programs, and attempts to understand who, as public policy beneficiaries, has access to grant programs for study abroad. Through Bourdieu’s framework of capitals, the research partially confirm Bourdieu’s argument that cultural capital and social capital have profound influence on sustaining social class, and further point to the government’s role in mediating cultural and social capital.

Author

• Yun-Shiuan (Viola) Chen, National Academy for Educational Research, Taiwan