Abstract
This chapter draws upon a strengths perspective that seeks to frame first-in-family (FiF) students not as ‘lacking’ or as ‘deficit’ but rather as a cohort replete with cultural wealths. Building on Bourdieuian theories and referring explicitly to the work of Yosso (2005), the capabilities and cultural strengths of this older FiF cohort are revealed. The chapter provides a relational understanding of this student experience that considers the wider dynamics of learners’ lived realities. In exploring these unique contexts, three richly descriptive vignettes are featured and these are discussed collectively. This discussion reflects both upon the constraints that are expressed by the older learners as well as the personal strengths each story reveals about the narrator.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Appadurai, A. (2004). The capacity to aspire: Culture and terms of recognition. In V. Rao & M. Walton (Eds.), Culture and public action (pp. 59–84). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society and culture. London: Sage Publications.
Bresler, L. (2006). Embodied narrative inquiry: A methodology of connection. Research Studies in Music Education, 27(21), 21–43.
Cassells, R., Duncan, A., Abello, A., D’Souza, G., & Nepal, B. (2012). Smart Australians: Education and innovation in Australia (AMP.NATSEM Income and Wealth Report (32)). Melbourne: AMP.
Cox, E. M., & Ebbers, L. H. (2010). Exploring the persistence of adult women at a midwest community college. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 34(4), 337–359.
Erel, U. (2010). Migrating cultural capital: Bourdieu in migration studies. Sociology, 44(4), 642–660.
Gale, T., Hattam, R. Parker, S., Comber, B., Bills, D., & Tranter, D. (2010). Interventions early in school as a means to improve higher education outcomes for disadvantaged (particularly low SES) students (Component B). Commissioned by The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Giroux, H. (2010, October 17). Lessons from Paolo Friere. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Huber, L. (2009). Challenging racist nativist framing: Acknowledging the community cultural wealth of undocumented Chicana college students to reframe the Immigration debate. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 704–784.
Lovell, E. D. (2014). Female college students who are parents: Motivation clarified by the ages of their children. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 38(4), 370–374.
Marmot, M. (2004). Status syndrome: How our position on the social gradient affect longevity and health. London: Bloomsbury.
Mercer, J. (2007). Re-negotiating the self through educational development: Mature students’ experiences. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 12(1), 19–32.
Merrill, B. (2004). Biographies, class and learning: The experiences of adult learners. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 12(1), 73–94.
O’Shea, S. (2015). Arriving, surviving and succeeding: First-in-family women and their experiences of transitioning into the first year of university. Journal of College Student Development, 56(5), 497–515.
O’Shea, S. (2016). Avoiding the manufacture of “sameness”: First-in-family students, cultural capital and the higher education environment. Higher Education, 72(1), 59–78.
O’Shea, S., May, J., Stone, C., & Delahunty, J. (2015). Breaking the barriers: Supporting and engaging mature age first-in-family university learners and their families. Available from: http://firstinfamily.com.au/report.php. Accessed 15 June 2016.
OECD. (2013). How are university students changing? Education Indicators in Focus – 2013/06, 15(September), 1–4.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23.
Reay, D. (1998). ‘Always knowing’ and ‘never being sure’: Familial and institutional habituses and higher education choice. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), 519–529.
Tinto, V. (2008, June). Access without support is not opportunity. Inside Higher Ed. Available from: https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/06/09/access-without-support-not-opportunity. Accessed 15 June 2016.
Watson, J. (2013). Profitable portfolios: Capital that counts in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(3), 412–430. doi:10.1080/01425692.2012.710005.
West, L. (1996). Beyond fragments: Adults, motivation and higher education. A biographical analysis by Linden West. London: Taylor and Francis.
Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
O’Shea, S., May, J., Stone, C., Delahunty, J. (2017). Disrupting the Deficit: Beyond Notions of Lack for First-in-Family Students. In: First-in-Family Students, University Experience and Family Life. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58284-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58284-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58283-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58284-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)