ABSTRACT

Within the broader context of the global knowledge economy, wherein the "college-for-all" discourse grows more and more pervasive and systems of higher education become increasingly stratified by social class, important and timely questions emerge regarding the future social location and mobility of the working classes. Though the working classes look very different from the working classes of previous generations, the weight of a universal working-class identity/background amounts to much of the same economic vulnerability and negative cultural stereotypes, all of which continue to present obstacles for new generations of working-class youth, many of whom pursue higher education as a necessity rather than a "choice."

Using a sociological lens, contributors examine the complicated relationship between the working classes and higher education through students’ distinct experiences, challenges, and triumphs during three moments on a transitional continuum: the transition from secondary to higher education; experiences within higher education; and the transition from higher education to the workforce. In doing so, this volume challenges the popular notion of higher education as a means to equality of opportunity and social mobility for working-class students.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

The Working Classes and Higher Education: An Introduction to a Complicated Relationship

section |92 pages

Inequality of Experience and Opportunity

chapter |20 pages

“Outsiders on the inside”

Working-Class Students at UK Universities

chapter |23 pages

Making the Grade

The Academic Side of College Life Among Financial Aid Recipients

chapter |18 pages

Normative Institutional Arrangements and the Mobility Pathway

How Campus-Level Forces Impact First-Generation Students

chapter |17 pages

“You don't have to be a college graduate to be intelligent”

First-Generation Students' Perspectives of Intelligence and Education

section |58 pages

Inequality of Outcomes

chapter |21 pages

A Foot in Two Worlds

First-Generation College Graduates, Academic Success, and Family Relationships

chapter |20 pages

Great Expectations

Classed Outcomes of Liberal Arts College Graduates 1