When Neil Smith met Pierre Bourdieu in Nanjing, China: bringing cultural capital into rent gap theory

Abstract

In this paper, we expand rent-gap theory in conceptual and territorial terms. Hitherto, the theory has, as Neil Smith intended, been used in an economic sense; we argue here, borrowing ideas from Pierre Bourdieu, that in the competitive environment of Chinese education, a rent gap in cultural capital is created which can later be converted into economic capital. The process we identify is triggered by the purchase of an apartment in a catchment zone, crucial to obtaining entry into a prestigious ‘key’ school in most Chinese cities. This leads to apartments changing hands for high prices despite generally being old and dilapidated. The rent gap in cultural capital occurs when parents forego potential short-term gains to capitalize on the long-term benefits of a superior education. This is contrasted here with a somewhat more conventional scenario, where property developers exploit a rent gap on suburban apartments built in the catchment of branch ‘key’ schools.