Not entirely at home: Upward social mobility and early family life

Abstract

Current research on socio-economic mobility documents difficulties upwardly mobile people encounter at university and in professional work environments. However, early-life experiences of family, home and community are largely overlooked as a primary point of inquiry. This article examines accounts of early family life given by upwardly mobile Australians to consider the ways class processes impact family beginnings and life trajectories. The in-depth interviews discussed here reveal that the negotiation of differing class cultures begins during childhood, in the home and community. This is illustrated most clearly through reflections on a sense of belonging (or not), and on material and cultural dynamics of youth. These narratives challenge widely accepted notions of homogeneous working-class socialisation, and require a broader understanding of the complex ways in which the upwardly mobile negotiate relationships and identity. These are narratives of what happens when origins and ambitions are seemingly at odds.