The Transformation and Negotiation of the Civic Habitus of Chinese Immigrants in the United States

This paper applies Bourdieu's theory of habitus, field, and capital to examine Chinese immigrants' practice and beliefs of guanxi in the US. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with nine middle-class Chinese professionals, it explores how they experienced moment of hysteresis and how it subsequently intrigued transformations of their civic habitus in the process of transnationalization. It theorizes the mechanisms for habitus transformation: 1) the process involves not only the "pushing" force of habitus dysfunction in the new field but also the "pulling" force of the actors' active acceptance and appreciation of the new habitus; 2) the old habitus does not necessarily "waste away" but can be "toned down" in the new environment and reactivated when migrants return to the old field where the old habitus was cultivated; 3) while the old habitus may still function in the new environment, the reduced efficacy of the old habitus may also lead to habitus transformation.