ABSTRACT
In many western countries, higher education has recently become part of the normal, taken-for-granted, experiences of the middle classes and, despite persistent inequalities in access, the expansion of higher education has resulted in the increased participation of groups who once were largely excluded. Changes in the labour market have resulted in a serious decline in the number of quality jobs available to early school-leavers and, as a result, there is pressure on young people to remain in education so as to secure the most advantageous economic returns. With many governments committed to increasing participation in higher education, inequalities in access have become politically sensitive, especially as young people from working-class families and members of some minority groups remain seriously under-represented. Yet inequalities in access tell only a partial story: higher education is stratified in a variety of ways, all of which ensure that traditionally advantaged groups derive the greatest benefit. In this chapter, we examine some of the key forms of stratification in the student
experience and look at the distinctive forms of engagement linked to various divisions. We argue that, in different ways, the fragmentation of experience effectively ensure that those from less well-off families have distinct, and in many ways poorer, higher educational experiences, even when they manage to secure access to prestigious courses in elite institutions. Indeed, we can identify a range of mechanisms that help ensure that wider access does not result in a more open class structure or pose a threat to the reproduction of class advantage.
