This article examines the effects of material inequality and gender expectations in structuring working-class girls' aspirations about higher education (HE). Through reference to recent ethnographic work in an inner-London secondary school two key arguments are made about how the combined effects of gender and class limit the social mobility HE is expected to provide. First, it is argued that family ties generate gender-specific obligations for working-class women, which have strong social consequences in terms of the take-up of HE places and labour market participation. This is particularly important since the commitment of working-class girls to home and family has been neglected in many theories of gender and social mobility. Second, it is argued that despite the recent political energy devoted to espousing a democratic HE system, the sense of entitlement to HE entry is, for young working-class people, undermined by a diminishing sense of the right to access middle-class spaces and institutions.
Adkins, L. (2002) Revisions: Gender and Sexuality in late Modernity . Buckingham: Open University Press .
2.
Archer, L., M. Hutchings and A. Ross (2003) Higher Education and Social Class: Issues of Exclusion and Inclusion. London: Routledge Falmer.
3.
Archer, L. and C. Leathwood (2003) `New Times - Old Inequalities: Diverse Working-Class Femininities in Education', Gender and Education15(3): 227-35.
4.
Ball, S.J. (2003) Class Strategies and the Education Market. London: Routledge Falmer.
5.
Barone, C. (2006) `Cultural Capital, Ambition and the Explanation of Inequalities in Learning Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis', Sociology40(6): 1039-58.
6.
Beck, U. and E. Beck-Gernsheim (2002) Individualization. London: SAGE.
7.
Bourdieu, P. (1974) `The School as a Conservative Force: Scholastic and Cultural Inequalities', in John Eggleston (ed.) Contemporary Research in the Sociology of Education . London: Methuen.
8.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction. London: Routledge.
9.
Bryson, C., A. Kazimirski and H. Southwood (2006) Childcare and Early Years Provision: A Study of Parents' Use, Views and Experiences. Research Report 723. London: Department for Education and Skills.
10.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) ( 2005) Participation Rates in Higher Education: Academic Years 1999/2000-2003/2004 (Provisional) (Statistical First Release SFR 14/2005) , URL (consulted April 2007): http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000572/index.shtml
11.
Evans, G. (2006) `Common Ground', The Guardian, 4 October.
12.
Gilligan, C. (1993) In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
13.
Greeno, C.G. and E.E. Maccoby (1986) `How Different Is the "Different Voice"?', Signs11(2): 310-16.
14.
Hey, V. (1997). The Company She Keeps. Buckingham : Open University Press.
15.
Hey, V. (2002) `Horizontal Solidarities and Molten Capitalism: The Subject, Intersubjectivity, Self and the Other in Late Modernity', Discourse23(2): 227-41.
16.
Hollway, W. and T. Jefferson (2000) Doing Qualitative Research Differently. London: SAGE.
17.
Komarovsky, M. (1946) `Cultural Contradictions and Sex Roles', The American Journal of Sociology52(3): 184-9.
18.
Lash, S. (1994) `Reflexivity and its Doubles: Structure, Aesthetics, Community', in U. Beck, A. Giddens and S. Lash ReflexiveModernization. Cambridge: Polity Press.
19.
Lawler, S. (1999) `"Getting Out and Getting Away": Women's Narratives of Class Mobility', Feminist Review63(1): 3-24.
20.
Mahar, C., R. Harker and C. Wilkes (1990) `The Basic Theoretical Position', in Cheleen Mahar, Richard Harker and Chris Wilkes (eds) An Introduction to the Work of Pierre Bourdieu: The Practice of Theory. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
21.
McDowell, L. (1997) Capital Culture: Gender at Work in the City. Oxford: Blackwell.
22.
McDowell, L. (2003) Redundant Masculinities? Employment, Change and White Working-class Youth. Oxford: Blackwell.
23.
McNay, L. (1999) `Gender, Habitus and the Field: Pierre Bourdieu and the Limits of Reflexivity', Theory, Culture & Society16(1): 95-117.
24.
McRobbie, A. (2004) `Notes on Postfeminism and Popular Culture: Bridget Jones and the New Gender Regime', in A. Harris (ed.) All about the Girl, pp. 3-14. London : Routledge.
25.
Mirza, H.S. (1992) Young, Female and Black. London : Routledge.
26.
Modood, T. (2004) `Capitals, Ethnic Identity and Educational Qualifications' , Cultural Trends13(50): 87-105.
27.
Modood, T., R. Berthoud, J. Lakey, J. Nazroo, P. Smith, S. Virdee and S. Beishon (1997) Ethnic Minorities in Britain. London: Policy Studies Institute.
28.
Purcell, K. (2002) Qualifications and Careers: Equal Opportunities and Earnings among Graduates. Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission.
29.
Reay, D., J. Davies, M. David and S.J. Ball (2001) `Choices of Degree or Degrees of Choice? Class, "Race" and the Higher Education Choice Process', Sociology35(4): 855-74.
30.
Reay, D., J. Davies, M. David and S.J. Ball (2005) Degrees of Choice: Social Class, Race and Gender in Higher Education. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.
31.
Silva, E. (2006) `Homologies of Social Space and Elective Affinities: Researching Cultural Capital', Sociology40(6): 1171-89.
32.
Skeggs, B. (1997) Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable . London: SAGE.
33.
Skeggs, B. (2004) Class, Self, Culture. London : Routledge.
34.
Skeggs, B. (2005) `The Making of Class and Gender through Visualizing Moral Subject Formation', Sociology39(5): 965-82.
35.
Skeggs, B. and H. Wood (2004) `Notes on Ethical Scenarios of Self onBritish Reality TV', Feminist Media Studies4(1): 205-8.
36.
Tapper, T. and D. Palfreyman (eds) (2005) Understanding Mass Higher Education: Comparative Perspectives on Access. Abingdon: Routledge Falmer.
37.
Young, M. and P. Willmott (1957) Family and Kinship in East London. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
