‘‘Where People Like Me Don’t Belong’’: Faculty Members from Low-socioeconomic-status Backgrounds

Abstract

This article examines class as a potential source of stigma faculty members from low-socioeconomic-status (low-SES) backgrounds. Based on 47 interviews with demographically diverse respondents at a wide range of institutions, the article examines respondents’ narratives of direct and indirect stigmatization around class as well as respondents’ efforts at managing these potential stigmas. I find that respondents describe primarily indirect stigmas in which low-SES experiences and concerns are minimized, covered over, or excluded in favor of a normative presentation of middle-class status and experiences. I show the ways that respondents use emotion work to manage both their own responses and the anticipated responses of their colleagues when challenging normative narratives of middle-class homogeneity.