Conference Agenda

This paper centres on the intertwined lives of these four friends, as narrated by Nar and Tanka. Through their stories, it traces the migratory pathways shaped by their differential recruitment into various Gurkha regiments and the ensuing educational trajectories of their families across generations. The analysis is guided by one central question: How do interactions among migration hierarchies, remittance flows, and parental aspirations within migration regimes generate intergenerational educational inequality and familial ruptures?

I argue in this paper that divergent migration corridors shape families’ capacity to invest in education and mobility horizons in ways that, when parental sacrifices and aspirations are not reciprocated by their children, lead to ruptured expectations built on profound economic and emotional investments. More specifically, the chance of recruitment, the position attained within the military hierarchy, and the scale of remittances together determine the extent and direction of educational mobility across generations. The contrasts among the four cases vividly illustrate this: while Nar’s and Kumar’s children pursue higher education in the United Kingdom and Australia through self-financing, Tanka’s and Dev’s families must take on substantial loans to enable comparable opportunities. These differences reveal how militarised migration produces enduring inequalities in educational access and aspiration, even among men who once shared similar origins and ambitions. However, shaped by their own aspirations and experiences, Gurkha children do not always follow the paths their parents envision. Even after receiving a top-tier education, many parents feel that their children have fallen short of the dreams they had painstakingly invested in.

This study investigates the emerging phenomenon of "good student" mentality (好学生心态) among Generation Z students in China, a psychological condition characterized by excessive perfectionism, fear of failure, over-compliance with authority, and chronic self-doubt despite academic achievement. While "good students" are traditionally viewed as beneficiaries of meritocratic education systems, recent discourse on social media platforms such as Douban (a major Chinese online interest-based community platform) reveals widespread psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, and existential crises. Although academic research on Generation Z is expanding, particularly in areas such as digital behavior (Munsch 2021), perceptions of life and work (Tang 2019), consumer behavior (Grigoreva, Garifova, and Polovkina 2021), future-oriented perceptions (Dikeç et al. 2023), and political participation (Rice and Moffett 2021), there is still limited understanding of how this generation perceives one's own educational experience embedded within a meritocratic framework

The research objectives are threefold: (1) to delineate the psychosocial traits of "good student" mentality as expressed in online narratives; (2) to examine how educational policies, familial pressures, and societal norms co-produce this mentality; and (3) to theorize the long-term implications for student well-being and identity formation. The study contributes to international debates on the hidden costs of meritocracy, offering a culturally situated analysis of how educational "success" in China—often measured by exam scores, elite university admission, and stable employment—may compromise mental health and authentic self-development.

The theoretical framework of this study integrates Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice with Anthony Giddens's structuration theory. Bourdieu's concepts of "field," "capital," and "habitus" provide analytical tools for examining how the Chinese education system, as a competitive field, shapes students' internalized "good-student habitus"—centered on seeking external validation and avoiding failure—by valorizing specific forms of capital such as high test scores and elite school credentials. This habitus drives students to adopt strategic actions within the educational game (Liu Yunshan 2021). However, Bourdieu's theory alone is insufficient to account for variations in individual agency and psychological experience. Therefore, we introduce Giddens's theory of the "reflexive project of the self" under conditions of late modernity (Giddens 1991). In an era marked by the decline of traditional social norms and an uncertain future, individual identity is no longer pre-given but must be constructed through ongoing self-monitoring and biographical narrative. It is within this context that Generation Z students are compelled to continually reflect on "who I am" and "who I should become." This study argues that the root of the "psychological predicament of the good student" lies in the fact that the Bourdieusian "habitus" provides a rigid script for the Giddensian "reflexive self." When constructing self-narratives, students must both adhere to the habitus to gain a sense of security and recognition, while also grappling with existential anxiety stemming from uncertainty. This internal tension leads to varied psychological outcomes.

The international and European dimension of this study is anchored in its examination of the predicaments faced by China's Generation Z within the broader global narratives of neoliberal education reforms, meritocratic ideology, and the risks of late modernity. By engaging in a comparative dialogue with the psychological pressures experienced by students in European countries amidst the massification and marketisation of higher education, this research aims to transcend the "othering" of the Chinese phenomenon (De Veen 2009). It seeks to uncover the shared challenges confronting youth globally in the face of intensifying competition and uncertainty. In doing so, the study offers a unique, non-Western comparative perspective for the sociology of education in Europe, thereby contributing to the promotion of cross-cultural understanding on issues such as educational equity, student well-being, and identity formation.

Previous research on young people has revealed the ways in which their lives have been impacted and reshaped by global neo-liberal informed socio-economic, cultural and political processes (Wenham, 2020). This reformulation of welfare systems and more individualised responsibility for social support and survival (Asenova et al., 2015), alongside economic insecurity, has increased notions of precarity in terms of employment, income, health and prosperity (Standing, 2011). In evidencing these changes and their impact on communities in the UK and across Europe, urban studies rather, those undertaken in rural areas have tended to dominate (Bernard et al., 2019). This dearth of rural knowledge and understanding, is occurring at a time when global and national economic changes have created regional and place-based inequalities which potentially have profound implications for working class young people living in disadvantaged European rural areas (Farrugia, 2014); discursively and literally positioning them as left behind (Wuthnow, 2018). The overwhelming majority of whom self-ascribe as White. At the same time, European countries have seen a growth in the political influence and traction of the far right, enabling the normalisation of anti-immigrant and xenophobic racialized agendas and discourses (Mondon and Winter 2017). In this context, the paper offers data from prolonged in-depth ethnographic research, to illuminate, explore and tentatively explain, the highly racialized culture of White rural working class young peoples’ sense of identity, everyday experiences and construction of social relations, in one post-industrial rural community in the North East of England.

In making sense of the data, the paper draws on the theoretical framework of social capital developed by Putnam (2000), to provide a nuanced insight and understanding into White working class young people’s relationships, networks and perspectives, not least those deemed vulnerable and social disadvantaged (Butler and Muir, 2017). Aanalytical distinction is made between what is termed bonding, bridging and linking social capital (Granovetter, 1973). Bonding social capital describes closer connections between people, e.g., among family members or among members of the same ethnic group. Bridging social capital relates to more distant connections between people, e.g., with business associates, acquaintances, friends of friends, etc. Linking social capital describes connections with people in positions of power and influence outside of immediate social networks and associations. The social networks associated with each of these forms of capital consist of both strong and weak ties (Granovetter, 1973). Strong ties are usually related to bonding capital and are associated with homogenous social networks between individuals who share an intimate relationship and/or social identity such as family or close neighbours and friends and who share common interests and values and interact frequently (Ashman et al., 1998).

Of particular significance to this study, is the recognition that strong bonded ties can potentially operate in a 'dark' negative and exclusionary way, isolating certain sections of the community from the outside world by over-embedding a network in its own social context (Martınez-Fernandez, 2009). Such action facilitates a process of like-mindedness that fails to consider views outside of those predominant within a network (Granovetter, 1985), resulting in individuals and groups who are not members of a particular social network being perceived antagonistically as outsiders (Portes, 1998). Moreover, it can discursively enable and legitimize everyday personal experiences of rural deprivation and disadvantage by drawing on right wing normalised anti-immigrant and xenophobic racialized agendas to make sense of their predicament as White young people. A group whom rely on the ties of bonded social capital to socio-culturally and economically survive.

In today's globalised and hyper-technological world, global citizenship education is one of the key approaches to producing critical citizens who are capable of navigating these realities (Calvo-Salvador, 2024). The inclusion of a critical perspective in education, as well as a participatory approach, allows it to be aimed towards training caring and transformative professionals who are committed to a more equitable society (Ibarra & Leyton, 2022). This approach is therefore linked to the concept of social justice, seeking to recognise inequalities based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or other sociodemographic characteristics, and to work towards real equality (Peng, 2024).

This perspective of global citizenship, however, cannot be a purely offline approach. The current post-digital era means that technology is no longer a separate domain, but is intertwined with all domains of human existence (Code, 2025), making it necessary to consider a digital citizenship that includes not only the ability to use the Internet, but also to be active, critical citizens with a transformative vocation in their use of technologies (Choi et al., 2017). Therefore, aspects such as media literacy (Funk et al., 2019) and algorithmic literacy (Dogruel et al., 2022), among others, are currently necessary to train the type of citizens needed in the post-digital era. This means that we need to consider a multi-literate citizen (Area, 2011) who has the skills to use and understand a variety of technologies and can use them ethically and democratically.

Higher education has a key role to play in training not only competent workers but also critical and transformative citizens from a social justice perspective (Olmos et al., 2023). Methodologies such as service learning allow educators to enhance this perspective, giving students first-hand experience with disadvantaged groups (Torres-Harding & Meyers, 2013). Together with challenge-based learning and project-based learning methodologies, this allows relationships to be built with the communities in which students are immersed, which in turn generates transformations in that context (Vergara, 2015).

Parallel to this insertion into their context, a technological integration is needed, promoting the critical use of the variety of technological resources that are currently available and that affect social reality (Lion et al., 2023). Linking this perspective with working with disadvantaged groups, awareness can be raised of how a lack of knowledge about the functioning and proper use of technologies can not only maintain but also deepen inequalities (Ferrarelli & Ricaurte, 2024). Furthermore, through technopoetics (Kozak, 2012), the exploration of the world can be integrated with the use of technology and artistic expression, thus allowing for interventions that are not only social but also artistic, appropriate to the sensibilities of each participating person or group.

This research is situated within the framework of higher education, using a case study methodology (Stake, 1995; Simons, 2011) to analyse the learning about information and communication technologies that extends beyond the classroom, as well as the professional profile of Social Education in relation to the critical use of technologies and commitment to social justice.