University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 Due Distinction: Elite Student Status Hierarchies In China Yi-Lin Chiang University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Chiang, Yi-Lin, "Due Distinction: Elite Student Status Hierarchies In China" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2806. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2806 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2806 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Due Distinction: Elite Student Status Hierarchies In China Abstract How do students sort each other into different status groups in school? Research primarily conducted in the United States conceptualizes student status hierarchies as multidimensional systems. Scholars portray multidimensional status systems as exclusionary, constructed by and in the best interests of high status students, and disconnected from adult society. However, these theories are less useful for understanding a unidimensional status hierarchy that determines student status based on a single dimension. This study challenges several assumptions based on multidimensional status hierarchies about status hierarchies by providing insights into how unidimensional status hierarchies are constructed, maintained, and justified. Data for this study come from 15 months of ethnography and interviews with 36 socioeconomically elite students, parents, and teachers at six top performing high schools in Beijing. First, I found that Chinese high school students established a unidimensional status hierarchy based solely on test scores, with the students who achieved the highest test scores on daily practice tests having the highest status. Students sorted each other into four status groups: Intellectuals (Xueshen), Studyholics (Xueba), Underachievers (Xuezha), and Losers (Xueruo).