Working-class Young People Research Articles

University and the Pursuit of a ‘Career’ for Working-Class Youth in Deindustrial Rochdale

This article examines the way in which working-class young people in Rochdale, a former industrial town in the north-west of England, imagine their future transitions from college to work through qualitative research at Rochdale’s only A-Level college. It explores how students’ aspirations to attend university reflect their desire for a ‘career’ in the absence of alternative forms of work and as a symbolic marker of upward social mobility that is subsequently differentiated from other forms of work as a form of distinction, as a great deal of emphasis is placed on the moral and cultural worth of a ‘career’. In doing so, this article highlights how such perceptions are shaped by the material conditions faced by these young people, such as inequality, financial precarity, and relative poverty against the backdrop of deindustrialisation.

Black excellence: the affective experiences of Black working-class young people in an English secondary school

ABSTRACT Affect and habitus are used in the paper to harness the intermingling of race and class in the young people’s everyday identity practices at school, as they aspire to embody ‘Black excellence’. This paper draws on ethnographic data collected with working-class Black-British young people aged between 16 and 18. Through the careful management of identity and reputation, the young people in this paper negotiate affective struggles to attain and secure a high academic status within a deeply neoliberalised school context. The paper argues that the identity discourse of ‘Black excellence’ connects dimensions of class and race in the young people’s identity work. Black excellence is described as classed and racialised reflexivity which helped the young people pivot their identity as they sought to maximise their educational opportunities to transition into elite universities.

Agonistic freedoms: enabling disaffected working-class students to turn-back-around to mainstream school

ABSTRACT The sifting and sorting mechanisms of Australia’s education system continue to work to the detriment of groups put at a disadvantage. For mainstream schools serving working-class communities in particular, the rejection of the offers and advantages of schooling continue to result in differential class consequences and inequalities for working-class young people. In response, this paper pursues a more hopeful project of schooling by considering how schools can work to circumvent the alienation of working-class students from the mainstream secondary school system. Foucault’s conceptualisations of ‘power relations’, ‘agonistic freedom’ and ‘technologies of the self’ are used alongside Kamler and Comber’s notion of ‘turn-around pedagogies’ to draw attention to the complex relationships between students’ subjectivities, their shifting dispositions towards school and eventual enticement to turn-back-around to mainstream school.

Young people, place-based stigma and resistance: A case study of Glasgow’s East End

This article analyses working-class young people’s perceptions of and resistance to place-based stigma, through a case study of a youth-led theatre project in the East End of Glasgow, UK. The impact of stigma on working-class communities is well-established; through the effects of poverty and inequality people and places are stigmatised. Although existing literature emphasises that we must recognise how working-class people construct alternative narratives, there is limited evidence on how people in neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty manage and resist stigma. There is a dearth of research on young people’s resistance to stigma. This qualitative study found promising signs of young people’s agency to resist place-based stigma by constructing alternative narratives. Through creative work, young people were able to convey powerful messages around poverty-related issues, making visible the effects of poverty on individuals and communities and encouraging empathy and understanding. However, it was also evident that individualistic understandings of poverty are so powerfully ingrained that these alternative narratives stopped short of an explicit recognition of structural causes of poverty. This article argues that viewing resistance as a process helps to identify possibilities for supporting young people to further develop critical consciousness, to confront stigmatising discourses in a way that exposes power relations, and to generate activism.

Get lucky? Luck and educational mobility in working-class young people’s lives from age 10–21

Scant sociological attention has been given to the role of luck within social mobility/reproduction. This paper helps address this conceptual gap, drawing on insights from over 200 longitudinal interviews conducted with 20 working-class young people and 22 of their parents over an 11-year period, from age 10–21. We explore the potential significance of luck within the trajectories of 13 educationally mobile young people who were the first in family to go to university, six young people who achieved similar educational levels to their parents and one young person whose status was less clear cut. Our analysis suggests that particular forms of luck may be instrumental in creating opportunities for social mobility, although the consequentiality of these are mediated through interplays of agency, structure, habitus and capital. We conclude that paying further attention to luck may help augment sociological understandings of structure/agency and Bourdieusian understandings of social reproduction.

Spatial division of opportunity: local economic context, elite trajectories, and the widening participation industry

ABSTRACT The importance of geography in debates around education and labour market inequality is an enduring public policy concern. This paper argues that local economic contexts have a role in shaping the kind of university and career trajectories working-class young people are exposed to. Drawing on multi-sited data on working-class young people in different local contexts across England, it underlines the importance of regional economic development, the geography of elite universities and the spatial patterning of widening participation networks and activity. In the capital, a sophisticated widening participation infrastructure exists – including multiple partnerships between schools and the third and private sectors – which far exceeds the networks and support found elsewhere. Combined with London’s high economic capital and elite career pathways, this infrastructure greatly facilitates systems of support designed to drive aspirations to elite universities and careers. Whilst advocating for a fairer distribution of educational opportunities nationwide, we argue that, without acknowledging the origins of spatial imbalances within the UK, any attempt at simply ‘spreading out the same’ opportunities risks offering a superficial response. If long-term change is to be truly advanced, a more systematic dismantling of how economic functions and social relations are configured spatially must first be achieved.

White working-class youth, rural disadvantage, sense of belonging and bonded social capital

The paper critically reflects on data derived from prolonged periods of ethnographic study in an economically disadvantaged white workingclass rural community in the North East of England. A central aim the study was to understand the culture of the village and to capture and penetrate the social relationships and meanings within that culture as understood by its inhabitants and their relationship with the local school (see Bagley and Hillyard, 2013, 2015, 2019; Hillyard and Bagley, 2013, 2015). The research employed participant observation inside the village and included semi-structured interviews with residents individually and collectively in a host of formal and informal settings. For the purposes of this paper, the research draws on those interviews conducted with white working-class young people aged 16-21 years old (N= 25), born in the village who were in neither education, employment nor training. The findings suggest the experiences of rural disadvantage for these young people results in them holding a strong relational metaphorical sense of belonging (Cuervo and Wyn, 2014) that draws on bonded social capital (Putnam, 1995) to help them survive.

Class, migrant background and misrecognition of capital in the university admission

ABSTRACT In this article, we discuss how class and migrant background intersect when students discuss their studies in general upper secondary education and their aspirations in university admission. We focus on the discussed social inequalities in student admission to one of the elite fields, medicine, in eight ethnographic interviews with students and fieldnotes concerning observations in two general upper secondary schools during an academic year. Admission to university-level medical education locally in Finland was constructed ‘impossible for me’ due to its high competitiveness. The symbolic violence in the self-perception and the misrecognition of capital in relation to interviewees’ multilingual background did not function as mobilisable capital in the national admission process. Admission becomes a platform for misrecognition of cultural and economic capital and for educational exclusion of working-class young people from migrant backgrounds from the medical profession. This happens on the surface in public and private education and health care even in a tuition-fee-free education system.

Title: The Great Gatsby: A Story of The American Dream and The Social Conflict

The Great Gatsby is a novel that was written in 1925 by Scott Fitzgerald. it represents The American Dream and the desire of achieving it through the protagonist attempts to achieve The American Dream. The protagonist is Jay Gatsby he is a self-made man who belongs to the working class of society, he gained his wealth through the organized crime and illegal business, Jay was charmed by the lifestyle of the rich people and the identity of being one of them. He used his fortune to make incredible parties in his mansion showing his wealth power and to attract Daisy’s attention, the women he loves most. Gatsby represents the American dreamers who belong to the repressed class of society, this young generation who believes in The American Dream and the possibility of achieving it. The American Dream was created by the dominant class of society in order to control the economic system.
 The falsie fact that this dream was built upon is the social justice, the social equality that gives equal chances to everyone to achieve their desires via hard work without concern about their social background. The American Dream is mainly about either wealth obtaining which was the aspiration of these young working-class people or social ascendency. Gatsby despite his recent gained fortune and new identity as he changed his name from James to Jay Gatsby was not able to be a member of the bourgeoisies; he was rejected due to his social background. Therefore, the social equality concept was denied alongside the hard work and equality of chances in achieving The American Dream was denied by the illegal career of Gatsby.

Transición hacia la vida adulta en mujeres de sectores populares (Córdoba, Argentina)

(analítico): La transición hacia la adultez de los y las jóvenes de sectores populares en Argentina se tornó más prolongada y compleja. Introducir la perspectiva de género al problema obliga a interrogarse si, además, el ser mujer no constituye una dificultad adicional. Este trabajo analiza los modos en los que se produce la transición hacia la vida adulta en mujeres de sectores populares de Córdoba. Es un estudio cualitativo que utiliza como instrumento de recolección de datos el relato biográfico. Se trabajó con 12 mujeres entre 19 y 26 años que concurren a dos centros socioeducativos y laborales. Se concluye que la inserción al mundo adulto no se presenta del mismo modo. Se expresa en recorridos individuales —laborales y educativos— con problemáticas y tensiones que darían lugar a transiciones más o menos favorables.

THE CONSTRUCTS OF MASCULINITY IN THE CULTURE OF RUSSIAN WORKING-CLASS YOUTH

Purpose: The study is aimed to research the means and patterns of masculinity constructing in the working-class culture of modern Russia. Both the practices of producing its multiple forms in daily interaction and the stable structures of social inequality, which consolidate gender order at the institutional level, have been considered. The article also provides an analytical review of current studies of the working-class masculinity regimes in post-industrial societies.
 Methodology: The empirical base of the research is represented by the mass survey of 1534 respondents living in the Ural Federal District of Russia. The participants were working-class young people aged 16 to 29 years and occupied in the field of industry, technical maintenance, and customer service. The processing of research results was carried out using a statistical package IBM SPSS Statistics Version 20.
 Main Findings: It was found that the remaining structural disproportion between sectors of the economy in the level of remuneration and the gender composition of workers determines translation and reproduction of the male breadwinner pattern that has power in the family on the basis of control over economic resources.
 Applications of this study: The results of the study can be used in the teaching of sociology, gender studies, and cultural studies; it can also be applied by local policymakers while developing social policy programs targeted on the regarded social group.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: In the current research we have examined a specific group at the intersection of three stratification features: social class (the working class representatives), gender (men’s and women’s view of the masculine construct) and age (the youth of three age cohorts). The attention was paid both to the cultural production of multiple forms of masculinity and to the continued dominance of social inequality and suppression’ structures.

‘It’s just so much better than school’: the redemptive qualities of further education and youth work for working-class young people in Edinburgh, Scotland

ABSTRACTExtensive research has shown that working-class young people often struggle in school. There has been a lack of research that explores young people’s institutional experiences of education and support outside of the school context, however. This paper presents some of the findings from a qualitative study with 10 young people in Scotland, which addresses this gap by exploring young people’s experiences of support and education beyond the school gates. It found that the participants had troublingly negative and strikingly unproductive school careers, and instead accessed support and education in one or two settings: through youth work and/or college-based further education. The more individually tailored and informal nature of these institutions, combined with what was widely felt to be a more relaxed and personal relationship dynamic between staff and young people, were highly valued by the participants, all of whom began to make concrete progress towards forming or achieving their aspirations in these settings, often for the first time.

Working class educational transitions to university: The limits of success

AbstractEducational transitions experienced within a context of wide and growing inequalities such as England result in very different transition experiences to those experienced by young people growing up in relatively equitable societies with strong communal links. Transitions of working class young people in England are beset with competition, individualism and low expectations. Employing Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, the article argues that working class transitions to university reveal the failure of the English educational system to provide anything like a level playing field to support working class young people who are seen to be educational successes. Focusing on those working class young people who are particularly successful by gaining access to elite universities the paper argues that even this small select group face discrimination, set‐backs, and a degree of social exclusion. The paper concludes that the vast majority of working class young people, including many of those who are the most academically successful have very different transitions to higher education, and experiences within it, from their middle and upper class peers.

1950년대 테디 보이(Teddy boys) 스타일의 모방 특성 : 르네 지라르의 모방적 욕망 이론을 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to examine the origin of the “Teddy boys,” who were part of youth fashion and subculture in the 1950s, using René Girard’s mimetic desire theory as a framework. In addition, this study analyzes the meaning of the Teddy boy style, which combined Edwardian style with that of the American West, and reveals that strong needs and motives were behind the superficial image borrowed by participants in this subculture. The Teddy boy style was a subculture that emerged in the 1950s in working class young people in the United Kingdom. It gained momentum and the attention of young people who were leading social culture at the time . They revealed the country’s collective consciousness and formed their identity by borrowing the Edwardian look and the imitated attire of the upper class. After examining the Teddy boy style using René Girard’s mimetic desire theory, their imitation characteristics can be described as follows: First, the Teds (as they were also called) imitated the luxurious and ornamental Edwardian style as well as the luxury preference of the upper class. The metaphysical value they desired through the model was the right to luxury and, in turn, the comfort and happiness of material goods, luxurious tastes, the self-gratification that distinguishes it from others with luxurious tastes, and an affordable and stable quality of life. Second, they assumed the ideal imitating object, modified by incorporating the Edwardian look with the American Western look. The low status of the working class was economically and socially frustrating to the Teddy boys, and they needed new ideals to imitate. The object of the revised desire created by them was obtainable high social status, economic stability, and voluntary self-esteem as a cultural subject.

Introducción: «Te vas pensando que has dejado atrás a zombis». La emigración juvenil: ¿aventura o exilio?

Uno de los efectos de la crisis económica de 2008 ha sido la emigración de una parte de la juventud española hacia el extranjero, en especial hacia Europa. Las narrativas culturales del fenómeno son ambivalentes: por una parte se ve como una aventura atractiva (que animan a emprender algunos políticos y empresarios), por otra parte se ve como un exilio forzado (que denuncian movimientos sociales y organizaciones juveniles). Aunque tal proceso migratorio evoca uno anterior más masivo —el que tuvo lugar durante los años 50 y 60 del siglo pasado—, sus protagonistas han cambiado: ya no se trata de jóvenes rurales y obreros, con bajo capital educativo, sino de jóvenes urbanos y mesocráticos, a menudo hiperformados. También han cambiado las estrategias de movilidad y comunicación que utilizan: el tren, la carta y los viajes sin retorno son remplazados por aviones low-cost, Skype y viajes pendulares. En cualquier caso, tal proceso se inscribe y acompaña el «viaje antropológico» desde el estudio de los «otros» (los jóvenes en tránsito desde el sur global hacia España) al estudio del «nosotros» (nuestros propios jóvenes en tránsito hacia el norte global). El artículo introduce los textos que componen este número de Temas Emergentes, y se propone analizar la emigración juvenil como un «hecho social total», en términos de Marcel Mauss, que pone en movimiento los recursos económicos, familiares, políticos e ideológicos del conjunto de la sociedad, en un contexto de crisis y renovación

Moving Beyond the Confines of the Local

This article explores the concept of belonging in understanding how working-class young people construct themselves as ‘subjects of value’ in historically high-poverty areas now undergoing complex social class unsettlements and changes in visual repertoires. Dramatic changes to space and place raise questions for our participants regarding belonging as well as the boundaries of respectability and authenticity. Drawing upon empirical data from two case studies, we conceptualize belonging as a process of sense-making tied to place and value. We find that social class identity and locality play a vibrant role in the shaping of young people’s identities. In seeking to understand how social experiences of young people are lived within classed, ethnic and gendered life worlds, we draw on sociological scholarship of youth, place and space. We explore young people’s lived experiences in South East London and how they explain these experiences as influencing their subjectivities and sense of belonging.

Youth insecurity in schools: what’s going on with class?

Young people from working-class backgrounds are feeling increasingly insecure in school, and for good reasons. The institution of schooling is being converted into an instrument of neoliberal control. In this paper, I discuss how schools are becoming increasingly insecure places for working-class young people, and how they are responding, and I do this in four parts; first, through the construction of a particular kind of classed learning identity; second, I make the case for why we need a more explicit focus on social class in schooling; third, I pursue how working-class students are being taught to ‘learn their place’ in school, and what this means for sociological analysis; and finally, in moving beyond a bleak and deterministic interpretation, I provide some examples of counter-storytelling to illustrate how working-class culture ‘speaks back’ to the institution of schooling.

The complexity of aspiration: the role of hope and habitus in shaping working-class young people’s aspirations to higher education

In this paper, I explore how working-class young people in Leicester hope and plan for their futures as they consider the possibility of attending university. I respond to Pimlott-Wilson’s [2011. “The Role of Familial Habitus in Shaping Children’s Views of Their Future Employment.” Children’s Geographies 9 (1): 111–118] call for further research to investigate how individual dispositions and habitus affect how young people hope and aspire towards the future. I do this in three ways. First, I empirically test Webb’s [2007. “Modes of Hoping.” History of the Human Sciences 20 (3): 65–83] hope theory to understand how aspirations are formed on an individual and societal level. In doing so, I critically question what is understood by the term ‘aspiration’. This allows me to question what it means for young people to ‘raise aspirations’ towards university. Second, I explore how a spatial analysis can contribute towards an understanding of how habitus, hope and aspirations interlock to shape young people’s futures. Third, I argue that hope can be regarded as a form of capital which in turn influences habitus.

Música y danza como espacios de participación de los jóvenes hijos de migrantes bolivianos y paraguayos en Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Este artículo se desprende de una tesis doctoral que –desde una perspectiva antropológica- se enfocó en las identificaciones y formas de participación de la “segunda generación” de inmigrantes en la ciudad capital de la Argentina. En el presente análisis se retoman algunos aspectos de la participación de los hijos de bolivianos y paraguayos de Buenos Aires a partir del examen de sus prácticas artístico-culturales, especialmente de música y danza vinculada al origen de sus padres. Tomando en cuenta los procesos de identificación de la generación de los hijos, se pretende situar a estas prácticas artísticas y a la participación de estos jóvenes en el marco de ciertas coyunturas y cambios actuales (que exceden el ámbito de la ciudad y el país, y alcanzan un nivel inter/ trans-nacional). De este modo se propone una concepción de “lo político” desde una perspectiva diferente a la que remite a las prácticas tradicionales desde las cuales se piensa la participación social y/o política, que brinde elementos para concebir a la música y a la danza como herramientas de transformación especialmente entre jóvenes urbanos de sectores populares.

Unintended volunteers: the volunteering pathways of working class young people in community sport

ABSTRACTSport has become a major setting for youth volunteering in the UK. Volunteering has become understood as a means of enhancing responsible citizenship and of adding various capitals to young people’s identities. Much research on young people’s volunteering in sport has typically (and sometimes by default) focused on middle class experiences, highlighting the combination of instrumental and altruistic motives for volunteering, the importance of family and school in decisions about volunteering and its perceived longer-term benefits. This article focuses on the experiences of young working class volunteers and is based on an evaluation of five community sport projects that were part of the StreetGames Building a Participation Legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Disadvantaged Areas initiative. Data from a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups were analysed to understand working class young people’s volunteering pathways, including their initial engagement, motives and understanding of challenges and benefits. The findings from this study indicate that, in contrast to many middle class young people, these young people’s routes into volunteering were not part of a strategic career plan, but occurred contingently and with support from coaches. Young people subsequently suggested that volunteering and its scope for gaining formal training helped them to develop skills associated with desirable forms of social and cultural capital that might lead to labour market attachment, particularly in sport. These findings have important implications for understanding how social class shapes pathways into youth volunteering in the UK and for developing appropriate policy to encourage a wider range of young people to volunteer.