Drawing on research interviews with thirteen self-identifying working-class professional services employees in Russell Group institutions, this article attempts to develop a nuanced approach to understanding institutional cultures in UK universities, through the relationships within these establishments. Throughout the study, the tensions between…

Although higher education is positioned as a site of opportunity for young women in the UK, not all female applicants experience straightforward pathways into this arena. This paper focuses on a group of 16 high-achieving girls from working-class backgrounds who are striving for academic success, in the form of top grades and places at high-tariff…

The growing oversupply of PhD graduates in the academic labor market has highlighted concerns about employment outcome inequality among PhD holders. However, the mechanisms underlying such disparities remain poorly understood. This qualitative study employs Careership Theory to investigate these mechanisms by examining differences in horizons for…

Based on empirical research with working-class students studying in Australian universities, this article frames class as a structuring relation, but also as a series of affective events, through which we emphasise capacities. Putting the concept of class in conversation with two analytics of affect, we show how class is a relational site of…

The relationship between material deprivation, economic poverty and education exclusion has been a focus of attention in numerous political and academic debates. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between structural positions -- and material disadvantages -- and young people's educational trajectories (especially,…

This paper charts the unfolding of a small-scale qualitative study, presented at institutional ethical approval stage as drawing on posthumanist theorising and seeking to (re)configure the concept of intersectionality, and focusing on the lived experience of postgraduate students of lower socio-economic status with disabilities. The self-selected…

In the last few decades, universities in India have witnessed the joining of a record number of students from marginalized communities and oftentimes struggle. This expansion of access has brought about changes within classrooms and college campuses, sometimes giving rise to contention and causing numerous conflicts as well. Centered around my…

This paper is about social class and the teaching profession. While class has long been a core focus in the Sociology of Education, little attention has been paid to how it is conceived and enacted in the context of the professions, including teaching. While research in the area is increasing, we know relatively little about "the daily class…

Working-class students often face more challenges in securing graduate-level jobs than their middle-class peers. This paper applies the concept of boundary crossing in studying the experience of Finnish business graduates from a working-class background (n = 27) and asks what types of boundaries they have faced and how they have managed them on…

This paper results from research on socio-historical processes that determine the current movement of counter-reforms in Brazilian educational policy. We sought to analyze the insertion of "behavioral modeling" proposals, a new organizing axis of the national curriculum to educate the working class. We used historical and dialectical…

While we have seen a significant investment in widening participation in Australian higher education, many equity groups remain under-represented. Males from low socio-economic backgrounds are the least likely to pursue higher education and the reasons for their non-participation are complex and arguably under-researched. Integral to the agenda of…

Higher education is increasingly positioned as a private good for prospective students in England, through which they can hope to gain an economic return on their 'investment'. This paper offers new ways of thinking about the purpose of university study and the benchmarks of graduate success. Using Margaret Archer's understanding of the concept of…

Despite the large number of working-class students having to work while attending schools, their work experience and the potential of class solidarity have been largely unaddressed. By bringing in a social psychological perspective, this article revives the sociological debates of working-class solidarity and challenges the defeatist view of…

In 2019 Ofsted introduced cultural capital (CC) into the Early Years Inspection Handbook and defined it as 'essential knowledge' related to 'educated citizenship'. This paper investigates Ofsted's use of CC to critically examine the potential implications for early years work. Due to the feminised nature of early years work, a critical feminist…

Rising educational inequality is considered as one pressing social problem in many national education systems. There is limited existing literature that examines how youth from different social backgrounds perceive and consider social inequalities and "justice." This study addresses this research gap by probing the perspectives of…