Out with the Old, In with the New? Habitus and Social Mobility at Selective Colleges

Sociologists have long recognized that cultural differences help explain the perpetuation of inequality by invisibly limiting access to elite cultural norms. However, there has been little investigation of the ways students reconcile shifts in habitus gained in educational settings with existing, no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociology of education 2013-01, Vol.86 (1), p.18-35
Main Authors: Lee, Elizabeth M., Kramer, Rory
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic degrees
Autobiographies
Bourdieu, Pierre
Classes, stratification, mobility
College campuses
College Students
Colleges
Colleges & universities
Communities
Community colleges
Community Relations
Cultural Capital
Cultural Differences
Elites
Ethnicity
Family
Family (Sociological Unit)
Family Relationship
Friendship
Gender
Habitus
High culture
High school students
Higher education
Homes
Inequality
Interviews
Learning
Learning Processes
Longitudinal Studies
Parents
Predominantly White Institutions
Qualitative Research
Race
Racial Identification
School campuses
Schools
Selective Admission
Social Capital
Social Differences
Social Mobility
Social organization. Social system. Social structure
Socioeconomic Background
Socioeconomic Status
Sociology
Sociology of education. Educational systems. Lifelong education
Statistical Analysis
Students
Surveys
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Description
Summary:Sociologists have long recognized that cultural differences help explain the perpetuation of inequality by invisibly limiting access to elite cultural norms. However, there has been little investigation of the ways students reconcile shifts in habitus gained in educational settings with existing, nonelite habitus. The authors use both qualitative and quantitative data to examine the ways students navigate what Bourdieu called a "cleft habitus." In particular, the authors examine how students of low socioeconomic status experience contacts with their families and hometown friends, arguing that these moments are crucial to understanding whether and how their habitus is changing and whether that change creates a divide between those students and their origins. Interview and survey data both show that social mobility does not come without sacrifice and that these sacrifices warrant more serious study in the sociology of stratification.
ISSN:0038-0407
1939-8573
DOI:10.1177/0038040712445519