scholarly journals The ‘dual tension’ created by negotiating upward social mobility and habitus: A generational study of skilled working-class men, their sons and grandsons following deindustrialization

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (7) ◽  
pp. 891-911
Author(s):  
George Karl Ackers
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Occupational Position ◽  
Intergenerational Study ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Generational Study ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

This article presents an intergenerational study of 28 skilled working-class men’s life stories of negotiating social mobility in the wake of deindustrialization. This contributes to emerging qualitative research that aims to build a framework that understands the personal tensions social mobility creates for individuals. In this study, the tensions that men experienced were not exclusively the consequence of ‘habitus clivé’, i.e. men feeling a dislocation from their working-class backgrounds as they climbed the occupational ladder. Men’s tensions also arose from internalizing the generational pressure to improve their occupational position. Pressed by these competing tensions, men developed a ‘ getting-on outlook’ over their careers, which meant that each generation pursued upward social mobility while also seeking to have the integrity of their working lives authenticated by their parents. To build on habitus, Bertaux and Bertaux-Wiame’s description of the ‘dual tension’ is advanced as a means to frame the conflict between belonging and individuality that social mobility provoked. This article suggests this ‘dual tension’ could be reduced by families in a process named ‘authentication’. ‘Authentication’ reflects intergenerational dialogues and practices developed by the younger generations to have their achieved status recognized as in keeping with their family background.

scholarly journals Re-Imagining Social Mobility: The Role of Relationality, Social Class and Place in Qualitative Constructions of Mobility

2021 ◽  
pp. 136078042098512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Folkes
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Occupational Position ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Key Techniques ◽  
Class Community

Discussions around social mobility have increasingly gained traction in both political and academic circles in the last two decades. The current, established conceptualisation of social mobility reduces ‘success’ down to individual level of educational achievement, occupational position and income, focusing on the successful few who rise up and move out. For many in working-class communities, this discourse is undesirable or antithetical to everyday life. Drawing upon 13 interviews with 9 families collected as part of an ethnographic study, this article asks, ‘how were social (im)mobility narratives and notions of value constructed by residents of one working-class community?’ Its findings highlight how alternative narratives of social (im)mobility were constructed; emphasising the value of fixity, anchorage, and relationality. Three key techniques were used by participants when constructing social (im)mobility narratives: the born and bred narrative; distancing from education as a route to mobility; and the construction of a distinct working-class discourse of fulfilment. Participants highlighted the value of anchorage to place and kinship, where fulfilment results from finding ontological security. The findings demonstrate that residents of a working-class community constructed alternative social mobility narratives using a relational selfhood model that held local value. This article makes important contributions to the theorisation of social mobility in which it might be understood as a collective rather than individual endeavour, improving entire communities that seek ontological security instead of social class movement and dislocation.

Class in the Millennium Memory Bank, 1998–2000

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Memory Bank ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Middle Group ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
Post War ◽  
Sociological Studies

This chapter examines discourses of class in interviews for the Millennium Memory Bank, at the end of the 1990s. It finds similar themes to those traced in earlier chapters: ordinariness, authenticity, and ambivalence were prominent in interviewees’ testimonies—working-class, middle-class, and even upper-class. Many thought the idea of ‘classlessness’, as espoused by John Major, was attractive; none thought he had achieved this goal, but many did think class divides had declined in the post-war period, and that an ‘ordinary’ middle group was now the largest in society. This chapter also examines narratives of upward social mobility in the 1990s, suggesting that the range of important sociological studies of the ‘hidden injuries’ and cultural facets of class that appeared in that decade were shaped by the experiences of upwardly mobile men and women who knew about the dislocations of moving class because they themselves had done it.

Understanding white working-class female experiences of progression into a UK Russell Group Institution

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-53
Author(s):  
Vanessa Todman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Support Groups ◽  
Barriers And Enablers ◽  
White Working Class ◽  
University Participation ◽  
Barriers And Motivators ◽  
At Home

When looking at barriers to social mobility, the experience of white working-class females and the choices they make when applying to university is under-researched, though it is touched upon through intersections of gender, ethnicity and class. This paper presents findings from qualitative research with students who identified as white, working-class and female, studying at a London-based Russell Group university. It explores the barriers and enablers they experienced in making the decision to go to university. The analysis highlighted three factors: (1) Circumstances at home often influenced their decision, representing both barriers and motivators. (2) They experienced a lack of support from schools and support but minimal resources within their family. (3) Lack of self-belief merged with a desire to prove themselves influenced their actions. The findings of this research suggest that this group has needs and barriers which practitioners should consider when trying to encourage university participation. These include: strengthening support groups, articulating both the unusual journeys this group may take to university and the benefits of different journeys and courses in a salient way, helping them to feel like they belong at university before they start and encouraging them to ask for help.

scholarly journals Educational Upward Mobility. Practices of Social Changes--Research on Social Mobility and Educational Inequality

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Mei-ling Lin
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Income Poverty ◽  
Occupational Position ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
Symbolic Domination

Social class is defined by the possession of all forms of economic capital, cultural capital and social capital which together shape the kinds of experience and lifestyles. This process is dubbed symbolic violence by Pierre Bourdieu. Education is crucially linked to assets such as income, occupational position and social prestige. Educational upward mobility requires more than individual effort and intelligence, and sometimes different ingredients, such as specific social conditions. The different dimensions of inequality—income, poverty, social exclusion, education and social mobility—are interconnected. The paper has been inspired by Bourdieu’s work on symbolic domination and capitals, and lifestyles. The author identifies a persistence of inequalities among the students due to social reproduction mechanisms: family background and parents’ social situation have a substantial influence on the life chances. The empirical data of this study come from a survey in 2019. The paper ends with a summary of findings and conclusions.

scholarly journals The Importance Of Educational Level For Farmer’s Upward Social Mobility In Wringinpitu Village

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Nurina Adi Paramitha ◽  
Supriyadi Supriyadi ◽  
Ahmad Zuber
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Social Position ◽  
Upward Movement ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

Education influences upward movement in vertical social mobility. With scholars not returning to villages, upward social mobility in a farmer’s society slows down. The research was conducted from September 2017 until April 2018 in Wringinpitu village, Tegaldlimo sub-district, Banyuwangi district with the aim of determining upward social mobility of farmers in Wringinpitu village. Upward social mobility is determined by the differences in a farmer’s life, before and after planting oranges, land ownership, wealth, and social position in a society. The research uses a qualitative case study design with data collected through observation, documentation, and in-depth interviews. The informants were selected based on a purposive sampling method. The data was then validated by triangulation and analyzed using the interactive model. The results has shown that the factors affecting upward social mobility was not only due to higher education levels but also from opportunities, family background, and social capital. Scholarly farmers achieve the highest social position while farmers with only junior high school background having the lowest social position. The less educated farmers are less able to absorb information and make innovations. Scholarly farmers are more successful and become role models for other farmers. Farmer with higher education are able to achieve higher vertical social mobility and vice versa. The results of the research propose that educational institutions should educate and motivate scholars to return to their villages as agents of change.

Mass Observers’ Attitudes to Class, 1990

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Class A ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Upward Social Mobility ◽  
Cultural Homelessness ◽  
Post War

This chapter uses responses to Mass Observation’s 1990 directive on ‘social divisions’ to examine what the Mass Observers thought about class. It concludes that earlier accounts have overstated these (largely middle-class) writers’ comfortableness with technical, sociological class language. Rather, many were hostile to or ambivalent about using such terms, and drew on popular culture, especially humour, when talking about class. A rejection of ‘class’ and snobbishness, and an emphasis on ordinariness and authenticity, were again central to many Mass Observers’ writings about class. In their testimonies, we can also see that new ethnic diversity and new, more diverse norms of gender in post-war Britain had disrupted the old class categories. Upwardly mobile people were particularly over-represented among the Mass Observers and their writing shows that upward social mobility—which expanded in the post-war decades—could lead to a cultural ‘homelessness’ and critiques of both traditional working-class and traditional middle-class cultures.

Emerging psychopathology moderates upward social mobility: The intergenerational (dis)continuity of socioeconomic status

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4pt1) ◽  
pp. 1217-1236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Hélène Véronneau ◽  
Lisa A. Serbin ◽  
Dale M. Stack ◽  
Jane Ledingham ◽  
Alex E. Schwartzman
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Social Withdrawal ◽  
Academic Competence ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

AbstractSocioeconomic status (SES) is relatively stable across generations, but social policies may create opportunities for upward social mobility among disadvantaged populations during periods of economic growth. With respect to expanded educational opportunities that occurred in Québec (Canada) during the 1960s, we hypothesized that children's social and academic competence would promote upward mobility, whereas aggression and social withdrawal would have the opposite effect. Out of 4,109 children attending low-SES schools in 1976–1978, a representative subsample of 503 participants were followed until midadulthood. Path analyses revealed that parents’ SES predicted offspring's SES through associations with offspring's likeability, academic competence, and educational attainment. Interaction effects revealed individual risk factors that moderated children's ability to take advantage of intrafamilial or extrafamilial opportunities that could enhance their educational attainment. Highly aggressive participants and those presenting low academic achievement were unable to gain advantage from having highly educated parents. They reached lower educational attainment than their less aggressive or higher achieving peers who came from a similarly advantaged family background. Growing up with parents occupying low-prestige jobs put withdrawn boys and outgoing girls at risk for low educational attainment. In conclusion, social policies can raise SES across generations, with great benefits for the most disadvantaged segments of the population. However, children presenting with emerging psychopathology or academic weaknesses do not benefit from these policies as much as others, and should receive additional, targeted services.

Through the Abyss

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-60
Author(s):  
Laura Hartnell
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Class Identity ◽  
Upward Social Mobility

This essay is an autoethnographic account of my transition from the working class to the middle class. It argues that performativity is central to upward social mobility, and that in my case this process has resulted in a loss of working-class identity. I perform this argument by having my working-class self comment upon the middle-class form to which I have committed my childhood. By making this split visible, I aim to evoke the complexities that are bound up in this class migration, and to question the middle-class academy's role in shutting out the working class.

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