Shaping Habitus and “Good” Lifestyles: Music Education of Chinese Immigrant Families in the UK

This study investigates the phenomenon of “music fever” in the Chinese immigrant community in the UK, a relatively neglected research field in the English language literature. It explores the attitudes of Chinese immigrant parents towards their children’s music learning through three key concepts in Bourdieu’s cultural theory: capital, habitus, and field. Although the interviewees generally displayed a positive attitude towards their children’s music learning, it was conditional on it not interfering with their children’s academic studies. This study extends existing research on East Asian immigrants’ and parents’ perceptions of children’s music education, and contributes to the application of Bourdieu’s theoretical tool in research on East Asian cultural groups in both Western and non-Western contexts.