From capital to habitus: class differentiation of family educational patterns in urban China

Based on Bourdieu’s concepts of “capital” and “habitus” in his class theory, this paper examines the differentiation of capital investment and parenting habitus on children’s education between the Chinese urban middle class and lower class. By analyzing 2009 survey data of students in grades 4 and 8 in urban areas, the authors found that middle-class parents had significant advantages in capital investment, but showed no significant differences in parenting attitudes when compared to lower-class families. This finding indicates that the current Chinese middle class largely relies on capital possession, but displays few differences in class habitus compared with the lower class. The so-called class crystallization is maintained primarily through economic capital, but not through distinctions of inner dispositions.