ABSTRACT
Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital is utilised to reveal how gender influences the ways in which mothers and fathers are involved in the process of higher education choice. This chapter presents a description of gender differences relating to parental involvement in the process. It provides an analysis concerning gender and mothers' involvement in the process. The chapter also offers a focused discussion of the ways in which fathers are involved in children's higher education choice. The role of mothers, together with the emphasis on social class differences, is seen to be central to understandings of parental involvement and higher education decision-making in China. The chapter reveals that there exist substantial differences between social classes in the ways that parents are involved in their children's education, particularly in the process of higher education choices, which is consistent with the findings of relevant studies in the other national contexts.
