From capital to habitus: understanding urban overseas returnees’ class identity construction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Informed by Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of habitus and its relation with social class, this study explores the construction and negotiation of middle-class identity among a group of urban overseas returnees in China. Using ethnographic interviews and online observational data, the study found that participants built a compliant identity conforming to their parents’ expectations and metrics of being ‘middle-class’. However, they resisted their families’ positioning and the ideal class role images imposed upon them. In their workplace, participants negotiated this middle-class identity mainly by exhibiting professional qualities drawing upon their linguistic capital and new habitus gained through their overseas educational experiences. The privileged identity that the participants exhibited, however, was not without dilemmas and struggles due to their different set of habitus and linguistic practices. Finally, participants were found to project a new middle-class image with translanguaging practice and distinctive lifestyles by co-constructing a ‘returnees circle’.