Academic returnees’ revalidation of cultural capital in their post-return career development at Chinese elite universities

Amid the ongoing geopolitical repositioning of Chinese higher education, potential changes in academic returnees’ post-return cultural experiences warrant further exploration. Using a Bourdieusian lens, analyses of interviews with 28 Chinese academic returnees at eight mainland Chinese universities show that returnees’ overseas-developed educational qualifications, research outputs, and academic dispositions could help them acquire cultural capital. However, neither the acquisition nor the valuation of cultural capital is guaranteed in their post-return careers, as rules governing academic practices may change and their mismatch with returnees’ academic habitus, namely the habitus-field disjuncture, could be exacerbated over time. To sustain their long-term career development, returnees must consistently deepen their understanding of hidden and evolving rules, strategically align their academic dispositions with perceived rules, and respond to new social conditions. Our results call for incorporating a temporal-change perspective into analyses of habitus–field interactions and their impacts on cultural integration among agents involved in cross-border migration.