Skip to main content

The Class Feeling

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 640 Accesses

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education ((GED))

Abstract

As the research focuses on those working-class boys who are achieving highly within school, the chapter will consider the complexities of reconciling identity with educational success. This literature for the large part is made up of reflections from once-working-class academics discussing their own experiences. There are some notable exceptions of empirical research with young people attempting to achieve highly within the education system and these important studies are discussed. Issues relating to class identification and class definitions are also explored. The chapter highlights key areas that have not had enough attention within research relating to working-class boys and schooling; namely, how working-class boys negotiate educational success and reconcile this with identity. It ends with detail on the structure of the rest of the book.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Archer, L., & Yamashita, H. (2003). Theorising inner-city masculinities: ‘Race’, class, gender and education. Gender and Education, 15(2), 115–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (2003). Class strategies and the education market. London: Routledge Falmer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, H., & Hebson, G. (1999). Breaking the silence: The need to re-articulate ‘class’. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 19, 178–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, P. J. (2007). Men accessing education: Masculinities, identifications and widening participation. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(4), 411–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, T., & Lipset, S. M. (1991). Are social classes dying? International Sociology, 6(4), 397–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crompton, R. (1998). Class and stratification (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempsey, V. (2008). Rising up: Critical education scholars from poor and working-class backgrounds narrate their class mobility. American Educational Research Association Conference, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devine, F. (2004). Class practices: How parents help their children get good jobs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, G. (2007). Educational failure and working-class white children in Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hey, V. (1997). Northern accent and southern comfort. In P. Mahony & C. Zmroczek (Eds.), Class matters: Working-class women’s perspectives on social class (pp. 140–151). London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hey, V. (2006). Getting over it? Reflections on the melancholia of reclassified identities. Gender and Education, 18(3), 295–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, S. (2008). Rising up: Critical education scholars from poor and working-class backgrounds narrate their class mobility. American Educational Research Association Conference, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, N. (2009). Working-class boys, educational success and the misrecognition of working-class culture. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(4), 431–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, N. (2011). Within school and beyond the gate: The difficulties of being educationally successful and working-class. Sociology, 45(7), 287–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, N., & Abrahams, J. (2016). Stepping outside of oneself: How a cleft-habitus can lead to greater reflexivity through occupying “the third space”. In J. Thatcher, N. Ingram, C. Burke, & J. Abraham (Eds.), Bourdieu: The next generation. The development of Bourdieu’s intellectual heritage in contemporary UK sociology, BSA sociological futures series. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, O. (2011). Chavs: The demonization of the working-class. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, S. (2000). Escape and escapism: Representing working class women. In S. Munt (Ed.), Cultural studies and the working class. London: Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucey, H., Melody, J., & Walkerdine, V. (2003). Uneasy hybrids: Psychosocial aspects of becoming educationally successful for working-class young women. Gender and Education, 15(3), 285–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K., & O’Neill, C. (1994). The colonisation of social class in education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 15(3), 307–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire, M. (1997). Missing links: Working-class women of Irish descent. In P. Mahony & C. Zmroczek (Eds.), Class matters ‘working-class women’s perspectives on social class’ (pp. 87–100). London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahony, P., & Zmroczek, C. (1997). Class matters: Working-class women’s perspectives on social class. London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowell, L. (1993). Redundant masculinities?: Employment change and white working-class youth. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, L. (2015). Getting by – Estates, class and culture in austerity Britain. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Morley, L. (1997). A class of one’s own: Women, social class and the academy. In P. Mahony & C. Zmroczek (Eds.), Class matters ‘working-class Women’s perspectives on social class’ (pp. 113–126). London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pahl, R. E. (1989). Is the emperor naked? Some questions on the adequacy of sociological theory in urban and regional research. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 12, 247–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D. (1997). The double-bind of the working-class feminist academic: The success of failure or the failure of success? In P. Mahony & C. Zmroczek (Eds.), Class matters ‘working-class women’s perspectives on social class’ (pp. 18–29). London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D. (2001). Finding or losing yourself?: Working-class relationships to education. Journal of Education Policy, 16, 333–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D. (2002). Shaun’s story: Troubling discourses of white working-class masculinities. Gender and Education, 14(3), 221–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D. (2004). Mostly roughs and toughs’: Social class, race and representation in inner city schooling. Sociology, 38(5), 1005–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reinfelder, M. (1997). Switching cultures. In P. Mahony & C. Zmroczek (Eds.), Class matters: ‘working-class’ women’s perspectives on social class. London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, M. (2000). Class analysis and social transformation. Buckingham/Philadelphia: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, M., Bagnall, G., & Longhurst, B. (2005). Globalization and belonging. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayer, A. (2005). The moral significance of class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sennett, R., & Cobb, J. (1972). The hidden injuries of class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skeggs, B. (1997a). Formations of class and gender: Becoming respectable. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steedman, C. (1986). Landscape for a good woman. London: Virago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, I. (2013). Revolting subjects: Social abjection and resistance in neoliberal Britain. London/New York: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vincent, C., Ball, S., & Braun, A. (2008). It’s like saying ‘Coloured’: Understanding and analyzing the urban working-classes. The Sociological Review, 56(1), 61–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walkerdine, V., Lucey, H., & Melody, J. (2001). Growing up girl: Psychosocial explorations of gender and class. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, M. R. M. (2015a). From labouring to learning, working-class masculinities, education and de-industrialization. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis, P. E. (1977). Learning to labour: How working class kids get working class jobs. Farnborough: Saxon House.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ingram, N. (2018). The Class Feeling. In: Working-Class Boys and Educational Success. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40159-5_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40159-5_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-40158-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-40159-5

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics