Competing for privilege –aspirational youth at a Chinese high school entrepreneurship competition

Abstract

The recent expansion of the overseas education market in China has led to the rise of “Background Promotion Projects” designed to strengthen the applications of elite university aspirants. Based on ethnographic findings of a particular Background Promotion Project, a Chinese high school entrepreneurship competition, this study analyses how international applicants to elite Western universities learn “the art of aspiration” by constructing and performing entrepreneurial subjectivities. Building a link between Arjun Appadurai’s concept of “the capacity to aspire” and Elizabeth Currid-Halkett’s theory of “the aspirational class”, this study reveals how deepening social stratification in China and the rise of a global meritocracy reinforce each other. Demonstrating how privilege is consolidated and justified through the (re)production of aspirations, this study further contributes to the theorisation of class reproduction and education during a time of post-industrial change and international mobility.

Keywords:

• Aspirational class
• overseas education
• entrepreneurship
• new economy
• China

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge financial support from European Research Council Consolidator Grant ChinaCreative 616882 and Harbin Institute of Technology Startup Fund. I want to thank Professor Jeroen de Kloet for his invaluable support and advice during my postdoctoral work at the University of Amsterdam where part of the research was conducted. I want to extend my gratitude to editors Professor David James, Ms. Helen Oliver and the anonymous reviewers whose feedback and comments are of great help to the improvement of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 As requested by the informants, organizers and participants have been given pseudonyms to disguise their identities.

2 A Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app.

3 An app that allows users to directly access mobile services in-app on WeChat.

4 An online version of the Chinese tradition of giving a red packet to celebrate major events.

5 The short form for “initial public offering,” the very first sale of stock issued by a company to the public.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EuropeanResearch Council under Consolidator Grant ChinaCreative 616882 and Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) Startup Fund.