Identifying and Explaining Hidden Disadvantage within the Non-Manual Group in Higher Education Access

Abstract

In an examination of class inequality in education in the Republic of Ireland over the period from the late 1990s to the mid 2000s, this chapter reveals class inequality in educational outcomes within social groups as well as across social groups, and places particular attention on the non-manual group. Within this group, a clear distinction can be made between those classified as having an ‘intermediate non-manual’ position and those classified as holding an ‘other (lower) non-manual’ position in terms of their educational performance at secondary education and subsequent access to higher education, which persists over the period. This finding has been revealed by disaggregating the non-manual group into the ‘intermediate non-manual’ and ‘other (lower) non-manual’ groups, a practice that has not been used by analysts in the past in the Irish context. In this chapter, we engage with theories of class which offer a framework for understanding educational inequality and in particular, why members of the same social class groups experience different educational outcomes.