Generative AI and Educational Inequality:  Using Paulo Freire and Pierre Bourdieu to Understand Repeat-Year Students in Chinese High Schools

Lili Lei; He Zhaoying; Lihe Huang; Chen Xiaozhong; Ma Sijia

doi:10.25159/1947-9417/21808

Authors

Lili Lei Jiangxi Institute of Technology, China
He Zhaoying Peking University
Lihe Huang Huaqiao University
Chen Xiaozhong Wenzhou Medical University
Ma Sijia Hebei Vocational University of Industry and Technology College of Business Administration

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/21808

Keywords:

generative AI, educational inequality, algorithmic capital, social reproduction, county-level high schools, repeat-year students

Abstract

This article examines how generative artificial intelligence (AI) is accessed, used, and interpreted by repeat-year students in county-level high schools in China. Drawing on interviews, learning diaries, and AI interaction records from 24 students, the study explores how AI becomes educationally meaningful within a high-pressure and stratified learning environment. The article develops the Algorithmic Capital Reproduction Framework (ACRF), which combines Bourdieu’s theory of capital and social reproduction with a Freirean emphasis on critical engagement, critical consciousness, and the educational role of questioning unequal conditions. The findings show that while baseline access to AI tools was relatively widespread, meaningful and productive use remained uneven. Students differed in how they entered AI use, how they incorporated it into study practices, and how they evaluated and integrated AI-generated outputs. Interpretive competence emerged as a key mediator shaping whether AI supported reflective learning or shortcut-oriented task completion. Rather than reducing inequality, generative AI appears to reorganise it through socially differentiated patterns of access, engagement, and educational value.

Author Biography

Lili Lei, Jiangxi Institute of Technology, China

School of Education, Jiangxi Institute of Technology, Nanchang City, China

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