The Continuation of Reproduction in Higher Education - Exploring the Impact of Social Class on the Aspiration of Students Taking Postgraduate Entrance Examination in China

Along with the expansion of higher education in China, on the one hand, academic qualifications are depreciating at an alarming rate, and on the other hand, the competition for employment is becoming more and more competitive, thus, the graduate school fever has become an emerging social phenomenon in China. In order to understand the mechanism of reproduction of this new-emergent phenomenon, this study try to focus on the aspiration of students who would take part in the postgraduate entrance examination in 2023 with different family background. With Bourdieus toolkit (habitus, capital, doxa, etc.), the aspiration can be set in the individuas lifeworld, but also help us to bring macro structure in discussion. In the study, the influence of institution, family, peer group will be discussed. The study concludes that Postgraduate Entrance Examination is similar to the college entrance examination in that it serves the function of social reproduction in society.