Waterfield Bea, Beagan Brenda L, Mohamed Tameera
The University of Western Ontario.
Dalhousie University.
Can Rev Sociol. 2019 Aug;56(3):368-388. doi: 10.1111/cars.12257. Epub 2019 Aug 4.
Debates surrounding class inequality and social mobility often highlight the role of higher education in reducing income inequality and promoting equity through upward social mobility. We explore the lived experience of social mobility through an analysis of 11 semistructured interviews with Canadian academics who self-identified as having working-class or impoverished family origins. While economic capital increased substantially, cultural capital and habitus left many feeling like cultural outsiders. Isolation-both chosen and imposed-reduced professional networks, diminishing social capital. Caught between social worlds, participants mobilized symbolic capital in moral boundary marking, aligning themselves strategically with either their current class status or their working-class roots. While upward social mobility is a path toward reducing economic inequality, the lived experience of social mobility suggests it may exact a high emotional cost.
围绕阶级不平等和社会流动的辩论常常强调高等教育在通过向上的社会流动来减少收入不平等和促进公平方面的作用。我们通过对11位自我认定有工人阶级或贫困家庭出身的加拿大学者进行半结构化访谈的分析，来探索社会流动的实际经历。虽然经济资本大幅增加，但文化资本和惯习却让许多人感觉自己像是文化局外人。无论是主动选择还是被迫造成的孤立，都减少了职业网络，削弱了社会资本。处于不同社会世界之间的参与者在道德边界划分中动用象征资本，根据自身当前的阶级地位或工人阶级出身进行策略性站队。虽然向上的社会流动是减少经济不平等的一条途径，但社会流动的实际经历表明，这可能会付出高昂的情感代价。
