Elite Mobility and Conversions of Different Forms of Capital: An Investigation of Patterns of Study Abroad amongst Elite Graduates from Peking University in China

Abstract

This article extends Bourdieu’s convertibility of different forms of capital to understand the patterns of study abroad by elite graduates from Peking University, China. We draw upon empirical data from a first-hand survey study involving 1,417 graduates from Peking University. The statistical analyses suggest a pattern of the conversions from political and economic capital to cultural capital. Students from leading cadres and managerial families up the prestige game by actively pursuing study abroad opportunities, thus creating a ‘hard currency’ which combines elite status at home and abroad. This prestige game locks out even elite graduates without adequate economic resources. The formation of the new ‘hard currency’ reveals the inherent inconsistencies between the State’s meritocracy discourse and its ambition of competing for global talents. We argue that the State’s recent pursuit of global talents effectively excludes the working class and agricultural families without providing an inclusive and convincing meritocratic rationale.