Cultural Capital in China's University Access: A Critical Review on the University Entrance Examination (2011–2020)

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual Poster Session: SIG-Sociology of Education Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

Although lack of cultural capital is usually found key to rural students’ inferiority in university access, little research has investigated how the cultural bias embedded in the gaokao (university entrance examination) shapes rural students’ university opportunities. Inspired by Bourdieu’s theoretical insight of cultural capital, this paper interrogates the academic excellence implicitly defined in the gaokao sheets (2011–2020). Due to the subtle distance between the gaokao sheets and the textbooks, discernment in textbook scripts, feel for formal language, and accumulation of general knowledge become tacit prerequisites for candidates to excel in the gaokao. This paper argues that the redefinition of academic excellence in the gaokao overwhelmingly expected candidates to initiate multiple learning strategies beyond the reach of rural students.

Author

• Xiaoliang Li, Northwest Normal University
  Presenting Author