In East Asian economies such as China, recent mass rural-urban migration has created a new urban underclass, as have their children. However, their inclusion in urban public schools is a surprisingly slow process, and youth identities in newly industrialized countries remain largely neglected. Faced with monetary and institutional barriers, the majority of migrant youth attend low-quality or underperforming migrant schools, without access to the free compulsory education enjoyed by their urban counterparts. As a result, China's citizen-building scheme and the sustainability of its labor-intensive economy have greatly impacted global economic restructuring.

Using thorough ethnographic research, this volume examines the consequences of urban schooling and citizenship education through which school and social processes contribute to the production of unequal class relations. It explores the nexus of citizenship education and identity-forming practices of poor migrant youth in an attempt to foresee the new class formation in Chinese society. This volume opens up the "black box" of citizenship education in China and examines the effect of school and societal forces on social mobility and life trajectories.

About the Author
Miao Li is assistant professor at the School of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University, China.

Reviews

'This meticulously researched ethnography gives vivid insights into the schooling experiences of migrant children in China's burgeoning cities. They are destined to low status occupations and ongoing disadvantage in spite of the rhetoric of individual effort and meritocratic opportunity. Miao Li has effectively adapted social reproduction theories to highlight this harsh underside of China's meteoric rise.' - Ruth Hayhoe, Professor, University of Toronto

"Based on substantial ethnographic data, Miao Li depicts the day-to-day interrelations among school staff, teachers, migrant students and their parents, reveals how these influence migrant youth's educational outcomes, their identities and schooling beliefs, and further discusses what the role of urban school is in determining migrant youth's social position."- Mo Wang, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Germany

Book Information
ISBN 9781138084797
Author Miao Li
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g