Published: 2023-06-15

How to name upward mobility through academia? A study in the lay sociology of labeling

Kamil Łuczaj
Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies
Section: Temat numeru
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.5252

Abstract

This paper discusses the labels used by upwardly mobile academics who chose academic
career paths. Building on labeling theory, the empirical material was analyzed in terms
of the labels with which the respondents defined their position in the social structure. Biographical interviews supplemented by repeated in-depth interviews identified five types
of class narratives: two referring to economic criteria, another two to cultural criteria,
and a complex narrative of a “cleft habitus,” characteristic of those with hybrid identities.
The analysis is a voice in the debate on class (de-)identifications and research on the lay
perception of social structure.

Keywords:

upward mobility, class identification, higher education, popular class, labeling

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Citation rules

Łuczaj, K. (2023). How to name upward mobility through academia? A study in the lay sociology of labeling. Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies, (11), 41–64. https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.5252

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