Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften
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In the 1990s, China implemented educational reforms to expand access to education. However, the focus on neoliberal ideologies and educational success has led to significant social implications in the context of social strata. As a result, students now face pressure to perform in the educational system to achieve success and therefore social upward mobility. Families encourage their children to pursue education as a means of social advancement, and this has become a defining feature of Chinese society to have or not have social quality (suzhi). In this presentation, I will discuss how this focus on education impacts the social upward mobility and biographical orientations of elite students in China. I will discuss social mobility and stratification through the lens of habitus theory. According to P. Bourdieu, this theoretical perspective suggests that achievement in the context of social mobility is not solely dependent on economic capital but also on cultural capital. Biographically, this is highly interesting, as families represent the essential point of reference for educational decisions and impact making. Families play a crucial role in shaping educational decisions and aspirations; if individuals lack the necessary economic, social and cultural capital, they may seek opportunities in transnational contexts as a form of outsourcing and even biographical illusion.
This article examines interweaving collective histories in different formerly colonized regions of the world: 1. Migratory movements from the territory of the former Ottoman Empire to the Americas, specifically to Brazil, and 2. transregional migration between different regions within China. On the basis of empirical data, we discuss sociological biographical research as an approach to analyzing migration and social mobility as transgenerational processes. In the case of Syrians in Brazil who have fled from the civil war, these processes are reflected in transnational family structures, transgenerational mandates, and knowledge transmission. In the case of domestic migration within China, the “mission” that families give their children is social advancement through education (e.g., Crabb 2010; Fong 2004). In the context of anti-Western discourses in China, it can be demonstrated that postcolonial discourses are functional in the effort to regain former international strength and national prosperity, and that discourses on “becoming a modern citizen” pervade family aspirations. The article is intended as a plea for i) taking a closer look at historical and contemporary South-South relations, and ii) situating current migration movements historically. It ties into global historical and sociological debates on “shared/common histories” and “intertwined histories."
Ein wesentliches Merkmal qualitativer Sozialforschung ist ihr interpretativer Zugang zur sozialen Welt. In verschiedenen Kontexten, in denen unterschiedliche Sprachen zur Anwendung kommen, werden nicht nur Probleme im Hinblick auf sprachliche Übersetzungsprozesse deutlich. Im Rahmen transnationaler Forschungen stehen qualitativ-empirische Zugänge überdies vor vielfältigen Herausforderungen der kulturellen Übersetzung: Da die große Mehrheit der qualitativen Forschung Sprache als Hauptbezugspunkt der Erhebung und Auswertung von Daten heranzieht, stellt das interpretative Verständnis von Bedeutung(en) und deren Herstellung eine grundlegende Übersetzungsherausforderung für alle Phasen des Forschungsprozesses dar. Der Beitrag wirft einen genaueren Blick auf sprachliche und kulturelle Übersetzungsprozesse in der qualitativen Forschung und diskutiert exemplarisch deren Herausforderungen anhand empirischer Daten zu Bildungsbiographien in der Volksrepublik China.
Der Beitrag von Yvonne Berger widmet sich der Frage wie junge Chines*innen im Kontext ihrer Bildungsbiografien sozialen Aufstieg deuten. Anhand biografischer Daten zu Bildungsverläufen im urbanen China fragt die Autorin danach, inwiefern die Forscherin bei der Untersuchung von Prozessen des Othering in den Gegenstand selbst verwickelt ist: Biografische Erzählungen sozialen Aufstiegs finden vor dem Hintergrund gesellschaftlicher Modernisierungsdiskurse und biografischen Selbstpositionierungen als ‚moderne‘, ‚westliche‘ Bildungsbürger*innen statt. Dabei werden Prozesse von Veranderung als Selbst- und Fremdpositionierungen im Hinblick auf das zentrale Deutungsmuster des antizipierten ‚Westens‘ sichtbar.