Cultural capital, identity, and social mobility
Subtitle: the life course of working-class university graduates
By: Mick Matthys
Series: Routledge advances in sociology -- 79
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780415510271
Subjects: College graduates; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General; SOCIAL SCIENCE / General; Social mobility; Social conditions; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes; Working class
Description: "This qualitative study explores the meaning of working-class origin in the life and career of university graduates. Social transition from a working-class background to a middle-class milieu results in loyalty conflicts and communication barriers. The lack of social and cultural capital and the absent sense of an assertive self-presentation are pivotal barriers to gaining management functions. Positions in certain key sectors are not necessarily allocated according to professional capacity, but to obscure social connections, regulated by cultural codes and tests. Matthys approaches social mobility as a trajectory of identity construction in which different classes are integrated, and uses the notion of identity capital to interpret and discuss the meaning of the individual drive in social mobility. "--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.