Institutionalized negative selection and structural teacher favouritism: demystifying the effects of cultural capital on educational achievement in China

Abstract Recent studies in China often report negative effects of cultural capital on educational achievement. This study revisits that claim by examining its effect, underlying mechanisms, and heterogeneity. Drawing on longitudinal data from the China Education Panel Survey, four main findings emerge. First, after accounting for negative selection, the supposed negative effects of cultural capital disappear. More broadly, cultural capital shows no significant overall effect on educational achievement, contrary to what cultural capital theory would usually predict. Nevertheless, cultural capital and educational achievement remain indirectly linked through institutional processes. Second, the analysis provides empirical support for a new concept, institutionalized negative selection, defined as a process in which low-achieving students select into extracurricular activities in pursuit of better educational credentials, a pattern supported by formal educational institutions. Third, although no evidence supports the conventional mechanisms that cultural capital reduces study time or enhances cognitive or non-cognitive learning skills, highbrow cultural participation is associated with greater structural teacher favouritism (i.e. praising and cold-calling on students in class), which in turn improves educational achievement. Fourth, institutionalized negative selection is found only among low-socioeconomic status (SES) students, supporting the cultural mobility model, whereas structural teacher favouritism is more pronounced among high-SES students and in high-SES schools, supporting the cultural reproduction model. These findings show that, in China, institutionalized negative selection and structural teacher favouritism are two important pathways linking cultural capital and educational achievement. This reveals how cultural capital can both promote educational mobility and perpetuate educational inequality, depending on how educational institutions value cultural capital.