Gaokao: vector of social mobility or gatekeeper of elitism?
Abstract
This study follows up on the analysis of data collected in 2007, aimed at verifying whether Gaokao facilitated upward social mobility at China. Its first part analyses national and regional datasets on the changing nature of the exam, access to different types of universities, and the keeping of elite institutions access opportunities reserved only to privileged social groups. The second part investigates the long-term impact of the Gaokao, through the course of 14 years, on three interviewees herein identified as Gaokao-champion, Gaokao-loser, and Gaokao- mediocre. By comparing their Gaokao outcomes to their career trajectories and subsequent social statuses, two aspects are illustrated: 1) Gaokao promotes the ideology of meritocracy and promise upward social mobility through expanded higher education opportunities; 2) underneath Gaokao’s meritocratic veneer lies deepening social inequality at all levels, from income to hukou status and to social networks. These inequalities sustain elite opportunities and gatekeeping. Gaokao not only serves to legitimize privileges, but also to justify broken promises of upward social mobility and to normalize a sense of “undeservedness” and worthlessness of those from rural and working-class backgrounds.
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