"We aim for them to be higher": The influence of Vietnamese immigrant parents on their children’s schooling and work

This thesis examines the influence that first-generation Vietnamese immigrant parents have on the academic and professional achievements of their Australian-born children. The representation of this second-generation cohort in university and in the professional workplace is quite high. Though popular discourse may explain this as an outcome of “tiger” or “Asian” parenting, this fails to capture how these Vietnamese immigrants facilitate their children’s academic and professional successes. To that end, this thesis focuses on how second-generation Vietnamese Australians are moved towards educational and occupational success through their parents’ interventions. This study uses Bourdieusian notions of capital and habitus, as well as the concept of affect. Capital alone fails to capture the dynamic and turbulent parent-child relationships that were revealed in this study, so the concept of affect is also used to highlight the effect of these relations on second-generation children, which can contribute to the development of dispositions in their habitus. Through these notions, the thesis demonstrates how the experience of migration can resonate in the lives of first- and second-generation Vietnamese Australians, and explores the inseparability of care and strategy. Ultimately, this thesis offers a richer and more complete understanding of these achievements, by considering the impact of parent-child relationships.

Author dc:creator

• Vuong, Ivy Marie

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
• © 2024 Ivy Marie Vuong
• au.edu.uts.lib/cph

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186245

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.lib.uts.edu.au:10453/186245