From optimism to disillusionment: meritocratic beliefs of working-class and lower-middle-class students in elite universities

This qualitative study examines meritocratic beliefs among disadvantaged students in elite universities in China. Through interviews with twenty-six working-class and lower-middle-class students, the research documents a temporal shift from initial optimism to disillusionment. The analysis integrates Willis’s cultural production theory with Swidler’s concepts of “settled” versus “unsettled” times to interpret this transformation. In exam-oriented high schools (predictable “settled times”), disadvantaged students optimistically embrace meritocracy, benefiting from the hopes it offers. Elite universities, however, introduce unpredictable “unsettled times” during which disadvantaged students recognize the unattainability of meritocratic promises for social mobility. This educational transition coincides with broader societal changes, including declining economic growth and rising uncertainties in the job market. This dual sense of unsettledness, reflecting increased unpredictability at both personal and societal levels, contextualizes disadvantaged students’ disillusionment with meritocracy. The integrated theoretical framework highlights the temporality of cultural production across life courses and during periods of accelerated social change.