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Abstract

This dissertation analyses the impact of ethnicity and class on students’ sense of self and belonging, with acknowledgement that the participants utilised are from working-class ethnic minority backgrounds, situated in a middle-class university setting. The intersectionality of ethnicity and class has been under-researched within the sociological field, as well as the lived experiences of social mobility. This new field of lived experiences of social mobility has emerged; however, this has largely focused exclusively on class, therefore does not consider other intersectional dynamics, such as ethnicity. Furthermore, this has caused intrigue, hence has informed this study, building the foundations for a new contribution to the field.
This study aims to explore the impact intersectionality the two factors have on students, regarding their experience of university. In addition, data analysed from thematic analysis, revealed that from ten semi-structured interviews, it can be concluded that participants expressed significant estrangement, yet felt a sense of cohesion in various ways. Another finding presented was: participants did engage in difficulty in accepting the middle-class surroundings with their working-class values, expressing habitus clivé. Adapting this to literature would reveal that this links to Friedman’s (2016) theory of ‘social limbo’. However, this research alters this slightly as it is a new type of limbo in a new setting.

Course: Sociology - BSc (Hons) - C0315

Date Deposited: 2020-10-14

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13575.html