Choice, “little things”, and shyness: grounding the race and class debate in Chinese American lives

This article examines how race and class jointly shape the educational and professional experiences of Chinese Americans. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Chinese Americans in California and a Bourdieusian approach, the study identifies three interconnected processes: class inequalities that structure educational “choice” yet remain obscured by racialized assumptions of Asian educational success; the racialized limits on converting educational achievement and class advantage into recognition and belonging; and the racialized devaluation of ordinary dispositions such as quietness and shyness. The findings demonstrate how race and class become intertwined through the unequal distribution, recognition, conversion and valuation of resources and dispositions across educational and professional fields.