Reimagining the illusio of meritocracy: affective and reflexive reconfigurations in rural students’ transition to elite
Jingran Yu & Ailei Xie
Abstract
The adaptation of students from underprivileged backgrounds at elite universities, particularly the emotional costs of this process, has become a focal point in recent scholarship. However, existing literature tends to attribute these struggles solely to students’ sociocultural backgrounds while neglecting the diversity within and the agency of this student group. Based on a longitudinal study of students from rural backgrounds at four elite universities in China, we adopt an affective approach to a Bourdieusian analysis of their emotional struggles with the competing illusio of meritocracy encountered upon entering elite universities. Their emotional struggles are aggravated by their affective affinity with the meritocratic doxa prevalent in high school, yet also spark a reflexivity on the taken-for-grantedness of the symbolic and affective order associated with meritocracy. Our study thus calls for attention to the nuanced complexities shaped by the diversity of students’ trajectories to higher education, as well as their affective and reflexive reconfigurations that could engender resistance and subversion to dominant discourse and practice.
Higher Education, Published: 30 June 2025
