Education, Migration, and Cultural Capital in the Chinese Diaspor ...

Cultural explanations for business success have also highlighted the significance of a Confucianist ideology. In this context, Confucianism is associated with paternalistic relationships, that is, reducing conflict within firms, the promotion of familial over individualistic goals, the importance of education and intellectual growth,⁹ and a diligent work ethic encouraging the accumulation of wealth (Tai, 1989). Thus, whilst contemporary middle-class migrants remain ‘loyal adherents to Chinese familism’ (Chu, 1996, p. 213), the modern imperative towards capital accumulation also has demanded ‘a rationalistic, instrumental attitude towards familistic values’ (King, 1996, p. 270). When it comes to the accumulation of capital, the family is clearly pivotal. As Ong and Nonini (1997) observed, ‘[The family] represents a long-standing habitus whose very flexibilities have now been placed in the service of accumulation strategies under the novel conditions of late capitalism’ (p. 21). When trying to explicate the meaning of the overseas education, it is essential that broader familial objectives are taken into account. Transnational education is rarely a purely individualistic pursuit.

The class structure of East Asian societies has been transformed as a consequence of economic development. A new middle class of capitalists and professionals has emerged who possess, it is argued, wealth and technical expertise (Robison & Goodman, 1996) whilst espousing traditional familial values and principles of free-market capitalism (Ong & Nonini, 1997). A history of emigration from East Asia, as generations of families have sought refuge abroad, has created societies where, in the terms of Appadurai (1996), the possibility of migration is always easily imagined. Indeed, the new middle class has continued the propensity to migrate overseas, which is reflected in the large trans-Pacific population flows that have characterised the immigration regimes of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States over the last 3 decades (Castles & Miller, 1993).