Showing papers in "British Journal of Sociology of Education in 2013"
TL;DR: Ball as mentioned in this paper argues that the world is changing fast and the need to be alert all of us around the globe is essential, and the importance of being alert is essential. But this is not always easy.
Abstract: , by Stephen J Ball, Abingdon, Routledge, 2012, 163 pp, £2599 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-41-568410-1 We are having to be alert All of us around the globe The world is changing fast Its essential
480 citations
TL;DR: Using data from a longitudinal study of working-class and middle-class undergraduates at Bristol's two universities (the Paired Peers project), the authors employ Bourdieu's conceptual tools to examine processes of capital mobilisation and acquisition by students to enhance future social positioning.
Abstract: Strategies employed by middle-class families to ensure successful educational outcomes for their children have long been the focus of theoretical and empirical analysis in the United Kingdom and beyond. In austerity England, the issue of middle-class social reproduction through higher education increases in saliency, and students’ awareness of how to ‘play the game’ of enhancing their chances to acquire a sought-after graduate position becomes increasingly important. Using data from a longitudinal study of working-class and middle-class undergraduates at Bristol’s two universities (the Paired Peers project), we employ Bourdieu’s conceptual tools to examine processes of capital mobilisation and acquisition by students to enhance future social positioning. We highlight middle-class advantage over privileged access to valued capitals, and argue that the emphasis on competition, both in terms of educational outcomes and the accrual of capital in the lives of working-class and middle-class students, compounds ...
288 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the experiences of working-class and middle-class students and families are not defined by intergenerational social mobility, but by social congestion and an opportunity trap, and also argued that existing sociological research on education and social mobility needs to be extended.
Abstract: There has been renewed policy interest in intergenerational social mobility as a route to a fairer society, but in ignoring the sociological evidence this article will argue that the current policy agenda will fail to achieve its goal. Based on an analysis of ‘social congestion’, ‘social exclusion’, and ‘social justice’, it also argues that existing sociological research on education and social mobility needs to be extended. In the early decades of the twenty-first century, the experiences of working-class and middle-class students and families are not defined by intergenerational social mobility, but by social congestion and an opportunity trap.
221 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how education policy, in the form of a statutory assessment system used in the first year of primary schools, defines the ideal learner, and argue that this restrictive notion of what a good learner looks like can work to systematically exclude some children from positions of success.
Abstract: This article examines how education policy, in the form of a statutory assessment system used in the first year of primary schools, defines the ‘ideal learner’. This ideal model is important because it prescribes the characteristics and skills a child needs to display in order to be recognisable as a learner. An analysis of the content of the assessment itself is used alongside ethnographic data from classrooms where the assessment is conducted, to demonstrate how the values inherent in the assessment and its associated practices reflect neoliberal discourses. Rational choice, self-promotion and individual responsibility for learning are all valued within this framework, and children’s transitions into recognisable student-subjects are dependent on their adoption of these values. It is argued in conclusion that this restrictive notion of what a ‘good learner’ looks like can work to systematically exclude some children from positions of success.
216 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how the "employable" student and "ideal" future creative worker is prefigured, constructed and experienced through higher education work placements in the creative sector, based on a recent small-scale qualitative study.
Abstract: In this paper we explore how the ‘employable’ student and ‘ideal’ future creative worker is prefigured, constructed and experienced through higher education work placements in the creative sector, based on a recent small-scale qualitative study. Drawing on interview data with students, staff and employers, we identify the discourses and practices through which students are produced and produce themselves as neoliberal subjects. We are particularly concerned with which students are excluded in this process. We show how normative evaluations of what makes a ‘successful’ and ‘employable’ student and ‘ideal’ creative worker are implicitly classed, raced and gendered. We argue that work placements operate as a key domain in which inequalities within both higher education and the graduate labour market are (re)produced and sustained. The paper offers some thoughts about how these inequalities might be addressed.
168 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue for better ways of achieving a socially just society, ones that, echoing Tawney, make a case for less distance and greater parity between social classes, contrasting their own personal history with Jackson and Marsden's classic study "Education and the Working Class".
Abstract: This paper problematizes dominant discourses of social mobility. It begins by discussing social mobility from a philosophical perspective before examining current policies on social mobility in the United Kingdom, drawing on data from both recent mobility studies and the contemporary labour market. I then broaden out the discussion by exploring subjective aspects of social mobility, juxtaposing my own personal history with Jackson and Marsden’s classic study ‘Education and the Working Class’ in order to exemplify the complexities of mobility journeys. Finally, I argue for better ways of achieving a socially just society, ones that, echoing Tawney, make a case for less distance and greater parity between social classes.
133 citations
TL;DR: This article proposed a framework for conceptualizing differentiated higher education curricula with a particular interest in occupationally and professionally oriented curricula, which illuminates the principles underlying curriculum differentiation, thus enabling a richer conversation about epistemological ac...
Abstract: Sociologists of education rooted in social realism have for more than a decade argued that knowledge matters in education, there are different kinds of knowledge, not all forms of knowledge are equal and that these differentiations have significant implications for curriculum. While this argument has made an important contribution to both theoretical and policy debate, the implications for curriculum have not been sufficiently addressed. In other words, a theory of differentiated knowledge has not translated into an adequate theory of differentiated curriculum. Drawing on Basil Bernstein’s work on knowledge differentiation and Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, this paper offers an empirically derived emerging framework for conceptualizing differentiated higher education curricula with a particular interest in occupationally and professionally oriented curricula. The framework illuminates the principles underlying curriculum differentiation, thus enabling a richer conversation about epistemological ac...
121 citations
TL;DR: This paper provided a comparative analysis of the discourses of widening participation used in the prospectus documents and websites of six English higher education institutions (HEIs) taking 2007 and 2011 as snapshots, the article considers the nature of the messages being communicated to prospective students by the different HEIs in the context of the changing policy landscape.
Abstract: This article provides a comparative analysis of the discourses of widening participation used in the prospectus documents and websites of six English higher education institutions (HEIs). Taking 2007 and 2011 as snapshots, the article considers the nature of the messages being communicated to prospective students by the different HEIs in the context of the changing policy landscape. Critical discourse analysis is used to interpret the ways in which the case-study HEIs discursively positioned themselves and their prospective students – and the potential implications of this for widening participation practice. In 2007, the findings suggested sharp demarcations between the discourses chosen by the elite pre-1992 and the more accessible post-1992 institutions. By 2011, however, statements of commitment to widening participation were less overt in the post-1992 institutions, whilst there was some evidence of a shift towards a more inclusive tone by the elite universities.
81 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined whether teacher recommendations at the transition from primary to secondary education in Flanders (northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) are also socially biased, and if so what causes these differentials in advice, using a mixed-methods design.
Abstract: The consequences of educational differentiation have been at the centre of research in sociology of education during the past decades. Processes of educational allocation have, however, received much less attention. Despite the fact that research has shown that teacher recommendations in France and Germany are partly determined by pupils’ social background, studies that inquire into the causes of this social bias seem to be virtually inexistent. This study aims to examine whether teacher recommendations at the transition from primary to secondary education in Flanders (northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) are also socially biased, and if so what causes these differentials in advice, using a mixed-methods design. We found the advice given by primary school teachers to be partly determined by pupils’ social background. Analysis of the qualitative data suggests that teachers tend to evaluate pupils from low socio-economic status backgrounds less positively, due to their emphasis on specific pupil charac...
78 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the way in which the problem of knowledge has been a problem for so long constitutes a problem in its own right, hence, "the problem of the problem" is a real issue in the sociology of education.
Abstract: This chapter addresses a long-standing issue in the sociology of education — the problem of knowledge. It argues that the way in which the problem has been a problem for so long constitutes a problem in its own right — hence, ‘the problem of the problem’. Its persistence represents a ‘blind spot’ within the field regarding the question of knowledge (Moore and Maton, 2001). However, as questions of knowledge and curriculum return to the centre stage of educational policy and debate, the sociology of education urgently requires a powerful theory of knowledge in order to positively engage with and influence them (Beck, 2012b).
77 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the complexity of the interrelated habitus of individuals relates to the collective, and that collective notions go beyond individualist accounts that perceive only the relational aspects of the individual with the social field.
Abstract: This article engages with Atkinson’s recent criticisms of concepts of collective habitus, such as ‘institutional’ and ‘familial’ habitus, in order to defend their conceptual utility and theoretical coherence. In so doing we promote a flexible understanding of habitus as both an individual and a collective concept. By retaining this flexibility (which we argue is in keeping with the spirit of Bourdieuian philosophy) we allow for a consideration of the ways in which the individual habitus relates to the collective. We argue that, through recognition of the complexity of the interrelated habitus of individuals, collective notions go beyond individualist accounts that perceive only the relational aspects of the individual with the social field. Our approach allows us to consider social actors in relation to each other and as constitutive of fields rather than as mere individuals plotted in social space. These arguments will be woven through our responses to what Atkinson calls the three fatal flaws of institutional and familial habitus: namely, homogenisation, anthropomorphism, and substantialism.
TL;DR: Huang et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated the extent to which higher education selection was based on meritocratic principles in contemporary China and found that socio-demographic factors appeared to be more significant than socio-economic status in affecting students’ higher education opportunities.
Abstract: Meritocracy is a powerful ideology that was used by the Chinese Communist Party during China’s transition to a market economy. With the Gaokao in particular, higher education selection became an ideal vehicle for the Party to associate itself with the ideology of meritocracy. This article investigates the extent to which higher education selection was based on meritocratic principles in contemporary China. A survey study involving around 960 first-year students was conducted in 2007 in two provinces. The statistical analysis did not suggest a strong socio-economic selection. However, a cultural selectivity was indicated in predicting students’ Gaokao performance as well as their chances of getting into elite universities. Socio-demographic factors appeared to be more significant than socio-economic status in affecting students’ higher education opportunities.
TL;DR: This article conducted a qualitative study with eight self-identified lesbian and gay teachers in primary and second-level schools in Ireland and found that the complexities faced by these teachers in negotiating the process of disclosure are an illustration of the privileged position afforded heterosexuality in the Irish education system and the dividends that accrue to those who occupy a normal sexual identity.
Abstract: Lesbian, gay and bisexual teachers have struggled with managing their sexual identities in contexts where heteronormative policing has resulted in deep silences and misrepresentation. However, many teachers have tried to counter this by ‘coming out’ or engaging with a process of disclosure. This paper draws on qualitative research with eight self-identified lesbian and gay teachers in primary and second-level schools in Ireland. Findings suggest that, for these teachers, the process of disclosure is valuable and fulfils a desire for openness and honesty. However, they continue to struggle with their teacher identities and aspects of their school culture. This paper argues that the complexities faced by these teachers in negotiating the process of disclosure are an illustration of the privileged position afforded heterosexuality in the Irish education system and the dividends that accrue to those who occupy a ‘normal’ sexual identity.
TL;DR: In this article, a visual methodology is employed to capture schooling places that students identify as constitutive of sexual meanings and identities, and students' embodied sexual practices negotiate and contest these spatial/material configurations.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with extending existing understandings about the role of schools as sexualising agencies. It seeks to uncover previously undisturbed spatial and material dimensions of schooling with regards to sexualities and their implication for how young people learn about sexualities at school. In this regard, the paper asks: how do apparently mundane spatial and material schooling arrangements constitute particular sexual meanings and identities for students? A visual methodology is employed to capture schooling places that students identify as constitutive of sexual meanings and identities. How students’ embodied sexual practices negotiate and contest these spatial/material configurations is also investigated. Through this analysis, the paper makes a theoretical contribution to an understanding of space as an in process materiality. It is concluded that the spatial and material arrangements of schooling contribute to a larger schooling project concerned with muting and regulating young peopl...
TL;DR: This article argued that languages, increasingly marginalised in schools in English-speaking countries, are gaining "elitist" ground as part of the value-added marketisation of schools and parents' desire for their children to gain "positional goods" through schooling.
Abstract: This paper argues that languages, increasingly marginalised in schools in English-speaking countries, are gaining ‘elitist’ ground as part of the ‘value-added’ marketisation of schools and parents’ desire for their children to gain ‘positional goods’ through schooling. In arguing our case, the paper draws on survey and other data derived from second-language immersion programmes in two Queensland secondary schools, where key learning areas such as mathematics and science are taught through the medium of another language. As a corollary, we also argue that some schools – in our case, government schools – are using their immersion programmes as markers of distinction in a period of post-comprehensive schooling and emerging school markets, which includes both government and non-government schools. There is also a global policy context to such programmes in respect of countries such as Spain, China and Germany supporting the teaching of their respective languages in nations around the world.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the role of curricular content on social mobility and found that curriculum matters in the acquisition of different social classes of destination but it matters more for children from advantaged social backgrounds than for lower classes of origin.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the role of curricular content on social mobility, an issue largely neglected by social mobility studies. Using data from the National Child Development Study we investigate the extent to which secondary school curricula account for social class differences in the chances of entering into the service class and avoiding a low-skilled occupation. The results show that curriculum matters in the acquisition of different social classes of destination but it matters more for children from advantaged social backgrounds than for children from lower classes of origin. This is because of their higher propensity to choose subjects such as languages, English, mathematics and science, which were found to be highly valued in the labour market. Moreover, net of the effect of origin class and individual ability, all or most of the advantage associated with attendance at selective schools is accounted for by the curriculum studied there.
TL;DR: In this article, the ESRC-funded project "Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First Degrees" (RES-062-23-1438, November 2008-January 2012) illustrates how critical use of Basil Bernstein's theory illuminates the mechanisms by which university knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy both reproduce and interrupt social inequalities.
Abstract: This paper illustrates how critical use of Basil Bernstein's theory illuminates the mechanisms by which university knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy both reproduce and interrupt social inequalities. To this end, empirical examples are selected from the findings of the ESRC-funded project ‘Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First Degrees' (RES-062-23-1438, November 2008–January 2012). The project investigated sociology-related social science degrees in four social science departments in universities in different positions in influential UK higher education league tables. A Bernsteinian lens throws fresh light on how university education might contribute to a more egalitarian society.
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative case study and deploying Bourdieu's thinking tools are used to understand rural students' subjectivities and practices in a Chinese elite university, relating the types and volumes of capital they possessed to the process of position-taking.
Abstract: Drawing on a qualitative case study and deploying Bourdieu’s thinking tools, this article attempts to understand rural students’ subjectivities and practices in a Chinese elite university, relating the types and volumes of capital they possessed to the process of position-takings. It contextualises their experiences against the backdrop of the rural–urban divide in China and the great educational inequality thus entailed. Rurality in the metropolitan space resulted in a strong feeling of being out of place. Lack of the legitimate cultural forms, together with pervasive financial constraints, constituted a major cause of frustration and alienation for these former academic stars. Exclusion and self-exclusion from the ‘consecrated’ culture, high-status societies and social activities further handicapped their acquisition of valued capitals. Under such conditions, rural participants produced diversified strategies and practices, through which we catch a glimpse of their evolving habitus.
TL;DR: The authors explored the perceived role of UK international education as foreign cultural capital, obtained outside the UK, in facilitating middle-class social mobility, drawing on interviews with students in Malaysia, it extends Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital to explain understandings of the rewards and limitations of undertaking UK education externally.
Abstract: This article explores the perceived role of UK international education as foreign cultural capital, obtained outside the UK, in facilitating middle-class social mobility. Drawing on interviews with students in Malaysia, it extends Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital to explain understandings of the rewards and limitations of undertaking UK education externally. I argue that foreign cultural capital has positive exchange value and an under-researched negative value. I discuss how accumulating local cultural capital is a strategic response to the shortcomings of western knowledge, skills and dispositions. Age, ethnicity, gender and nationality add complexities to the conversion of cultural capital into economic and social advantages. I conclude by arguing for more visibility of external modes of UK international education and the positional possibilities they represent to foreign students seeking distinction within the rapidly expanding global academic marketplace.
TL;DR: The study of education and social mobility has been a key area of sociological research since the 1950s as discussed by the authors, and the importance of this research derives from the systematic analysis of functionalist theori...
Abstract: The study of education and social mobility has been a key area of sociological research since the 1950s. The importance of this research derives from the systematic analysis of functionalist theori...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the leadership practices of three principals following a period of intensive immigration in Ireland and present an analytical model that highlights the circular and capillary-like dimension to such practising, highlighting how principals' recognition of immigrant children (their recognitive practices) as well as investment in supporting their learning (distributive practices).
Abstract: This paper explores the leadership practices of three principals following a period of intensive immigration in Ireland. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, it conceptualises schools as structured social spaces and of their leadership work as a form of practising. This practising is an outcome of the intersection between deeply embedded subjectivities operating in diverse fields of action that shape, constrain and transform each principal’s practices. Presenting an analytical model that highlights the circular and capillary-like dimension to such practising, the paper explores how principals’ recognition of immigrant children (their recognitive practices) as well as investment in supporting their learning (distributive practices) are shaped by the logics of practice across different fields, as well as by their own evolving habitus and struggle to be authentic in a period of rapid social change. Practising effective leadership in newly multi-ethnic schools must be conceived as layered and multiple but must be...
TL;DR: Weis and Cipollone as discussed by the authors studied the explicit "class work" of a now highly insecure middle/upper middle class, as they attempt to maintain advantage via entrance to particularly located post-secondary destinations.
Abstract: Drawing upon two ethnographic studies of affluent and elite co-educational secondary schools in the United States, Weis and Cipollone spotlight the explicit ‘class work’ of a now highly insecure middle/upper middle class, as they attempt to maintain advantage via entrance to particularly located post-secondary destinations. Affirming the notion that class position must now be ‘won’ at both the individual and collective level, rather than constituting the ‘manner to which one is born,’ the authors track and theorize intensified preparation for and application to particular kinds of post-secondary destinations in an increasingly segmented national and international marketplace for higher education. Although the US media have taken note of such ‘application frenzy,’ little scholarly work tracks and theorizes this ‘frenzy’ as a distinctly ‘class process,’ one that represents intensified ‘class work’ at one and the same time as class ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ become ever more apparent in the larger global arena.
TL;DR: This paper explored the experiences of first-generation middle-class Black Caribbean-heritage parents, their own parents, and their children, focusing on different ways in which race and class intersect in shaping attitudes towards education and subsequent educational practices.
Abstract: This paper draws on qualitative data exploring the experiences of first-generation middle-class Black Caribbean-heritage parents, their own parents, and their children. We focus on the different ways in which race and class intersect in shaping attitudes towards education and subsequent educational practices. We argue that the nature of racism has changed, but it still remains, mainly in more subtle, insidious forms. We conclude that race cannot be simply ‘added on’ to class. Race changes how class works, how it is experienced, and the subjectivites available to individuals. The paper illustrates how the two intersect, in complex ways, in different historical ‘moments’.
TL;DR: In this paper, a new conceptual framework identifies academic, linguistic, social and professionally-oriented capital as underpinning the logic of practice of this sub-field of higher education, and their influence on the positional tendencies and trajectories of the students operating within it are highli...
Abstract: Under-representation in UK higher education of students from less privileged social backgrounds is an enduring problem. While there are examples of productive participation, the pattern of collective trajectories of this group differs sharply from that of traditional entrants. The onus falls largely on students to adapt to established practices that remain strongly oriented towards traditional white middle-class populations. Bourdieu's theory of practice informed the analysis of data emerging from a longitudinal case study, and empirical insights are offered into how students with non-traditional academic backgrounds experienced and negotiated the demands of studying in one of the UK's research-intensive universities. A new conceptual framework identifies academic, linguistic, social and professionally-oriented capital as underpinning the logic of practice of this sub-field of higher education, and their influence on the positional tendencies and trajectories of the students operating within it are highli...
TL;DR: This article examined the changing relationship between origins, education and destinations in mobility processes, and found that the relationship between education and destination is more complicated than is often assumed and the role of meritocratic and non-meritocratic factors in occupational success.
Abstract: This paper examines the changing relationship between origins, education and destinations in mobility processes. The meritocracy thesis suggests the relationships between origins and education and between origins and destination will weaken while the relationship between education and destinations will strengthen. Comparing data from the 1991 British Household Panel Survey and the 2005 General Household Survey, we test these associations for men and women. We find that the relationship between origins and education and origins and destinations has weakened for both sexes. While these findings are supportive of the meritocracy thesis, they are not, however, evidence of a secular trend towards merit-based selection. Contrary to the thesis, we also find the association between education and destinations has weakened for men and women. The relationship between education and destinations is more complicated than is often assumed and the role of meritocratic and non-meritocratic factors in occupational success ...
TL;DR: This article explored the notion of "relational space" as it was appropriated and reclaimed by these young people, in explaining how they saw themselves as constructing viable and sustainable learning identities for themselves, using a socio-spatial framework that foregrounds the experiences of some young people who had disengaged from school and resumed learning under a very different set of conditions to the ones that had exiled them from schools in the first place.
Abstract: Young people who disengage or disconnect from school are often demonised within the media and the wider public imagination, from a largely individualized and pathological positioning. Policy explanations and responses are often unhelpful in their focus on a range of ‘deficit’ attributes – poverty, poor parenting, dysfunctional families, low familial achievement, aspiration and motivation, and other ‘at risk’ categories. This paper offers a different explanatory framework that foregrounds the experiences of some young people who had disengaged from school and resumed learning under a very different set of conditions to the ones that had exiled them from schools in the first place. Using a socio-spatial framework, the paper explores the notion of ‘relational space’ as it was appropriated and reclaimed by these young people, in explaining how they saw themselves as constructing viable and sustainable learning identities for themselves.
TL;DR: In this paper, a group of non-traditional students enrolled on a BA undergraduate program in a post-1992 university were studied to identify how academic failure contributes to possible trajectory interruptions and whether these are temporary or possibly permanent.
Abstract: Higher education (HE) is often viewed as a conduit for social mobility through which working-class students can secure improved life-chances. However, the link between HE and social mobility is largely viewed as unproblematic. Little research has explored the possible impact of academic failure (in HE) on the trajectories of working-class students or the ways in which working-class students may re-construct their career aspirations as a result of such academic failure. This paper seeks to fill this apparent gap by focusing on a group of non-traditional students enrolled on a BA undergraduate programme in a post-1992 university. Utilising Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, the paper identifies how academic failure contributes to possible trajectory interruptions and whether these are temporary or possibly permanent. It specifically focuses on how working-class students interpret and respond to their academic failure and the possible impact this has on their social mobility.
TL;DR: This paper developed an external language of description to investigate the problem of why particular groups of students are systematically not provided access to school mathematical knowledge, based on Basil Bernstein's conceptualisation of power in classification, and developed a three-dimensional model that operationalises the contextual boundaries, the linguistic features and the structure of knowledge.
Abstract: This article aims at developing an external language of description to investigate the problem of why particular groups of students are systematically not provided access to school mathematical knowledge. Based on Basil Bernstein’s conceptualisation of power in classification, we develop a three-dimensional model that operationalises the contextual boundaries, the linguistic features and the structure of knowledge, and their respective relations to power on a not too high level of abstraction. The contribution of this article consists of a systematic connection of classification with the latter two dimensions that abides the generative principles of Bernstein’s internal language of description. Finally, we illustrate the analytical potential of the three-dimensional model through a brief discussion of one classroom episode.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the dichotomy between the high prevalence and low incidence of youth mobility intentions, utilising the results of quantitative and qualitative research conducted with 400 students during 2010 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Abstract: This article explores the dichotomy between the high prevalence and low incidence of youth mobility intentions, utilising the results of quantitative and qualitative research conducted with 400 students during 2010 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Comparisons with results from a prior study on student mobility also show that the recent recession had made relatively little impact upon the prevalence of mobility intentions. Following a theoretical perspective influenced by Bourdieu, these findings are explained through an appreciation of habitus in transmitting the appropriate values and necessary social and economic resources to enable entry to what we have termed the mobility field. This conclusion also helps account for the disparity between the high prevalence of intentions to leave and the low incidence of concrete plans to leave Northern Ireland, as only a small number of respondents have learnt how to mobile via an informal process of family and peer socialisation.
TL;DR: The authors examined the adaptations that result when livelihood paths and educational opportunities become paradoxically diverse due to transnational migrations and are constrained by localized politico-economic environments and found that formal education represents an enduring pathway or necessary precursor to upward social mobility.
Abstract: The global movement of people alters our understandings of social mobility. Here, I draw on ethnographic data collected since January 2011 and utilize the notion of assemblage to document and analyze how disparate people, their material objects, and discursive practices are brought together to render refugees as educable, productive, and employable in the United States. I examine the adaptations that result when livelihood paths and educational opportunities become paradoxically diverse due to transnational migrations and are constrained by localized politico-economic environments. My findings complicate the assumption that formal education represents an enduring pathway or necessary precursor to upward social mobility. As refugees are required by resettling agents to become economically self-sufficient as soon as possible, formal education such as English-as-a-second-language courses can limit initial employment opportunities and narrowing families’ livelihood strategies upon resettlement, especially dur...