Abstract

SUN, Shucun; ZHANG, Cheng; LULU, Wang  and  BIN, Yang. Mobility without Legitimacy? Affective Reproduction and the Limits of Inclusion in Elite Higher Education. Educ. as change [online]. 2026, vol.30, n.1, pp.1-25. ISSN 1947-9417.  https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/21631.

Rural first-generation students in China are often celebrated as evidence of educational mobility, yet entry into elite universities does not necessarily ensure recognition or belonging. Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory and Ahmed's concept of affective economies, this article develops the concept of affective reproduction to explain how classed hierarchies are stabilised through affective legitimacy-tacit norms of confidence, composure, and cosmopolitan aspiration treated as markers of merit. Affective reproduction refers to the reproduction of inequality through the institutional normalisation of particular emotional dispositions as signs of competence and belonging. Based on semi-structured interviews with 26 rural first-generation undergraduates at a Double First-Class university, the study shows how habitus-field disjuncture-a mismatch between socially formed dispositions and institutional expectations-is experienced through hesitation, self-surveillance, and emotional labour. While some students gradually recalibrate or strategically adapt, others report persistent fatigue or selective resistance. The findings reframe belonging as an affectively governed institutional process and highlight the limits of access-centred accounts of educational mobility.

Keywords : affective reproduction; affective legitimacy; student belonging; rural first-generation students; elite higher education.

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