The Imaginations and Expectations of Being Middle-class among Highly-educated Young Women in Beijing

Content introduction：

With the deepening of reform and opening up, the middle class in China has expanded steadily. College-educated young women are among groups of middle class orientation. Meanwhile, this group is facing barriers in social mobility and multiple lifestyle choices. Drawing up the theories of cultural capital and gender, this study examines the imaginations and expectations of being middle class among highly-educated young women in Beijing. My interview data reveal that this group of women has similar perceptions of what it means to be middle class in China, while having different self-expectations for future lifestyle, which include: family-focused, career-oriented, free-spirited, consumerist-desiring. The study also seeks to explain the gaps between the imaginations and self-expectations of being middle class among these young women.