University culture
Traditionally, British universities existed to educate White students from higher socio-economic backgrounds who boarded away from home. Although the higher education sector has adapted to respond to greater levels of social and ethnic diversity, many researchers point to its failure to fully remove structures and processes that give rise to inequalities.1 There are steep socio-economic gradients in university entry, retention and degree class. The sector may open its doors to greater numbers of students from diverse backgrounds, but it is far from providing an inclusive and supportive environment for some groups of students. There are profound ‘inequality interactions’ between different types of inequalities, such as race and class, that intensify challenges and lead to significant gaps in outcomes. But students’ personal narratives also reveal the distress experienced as a result of not ‘fitting in’.2
This experience can be intensified for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds studying at highly selective universities where they are underrepresented. Studies show how they can feel marginalised due to the dominance of the values and attitudes of higher social classes across the institution. Whilst students may adjust well to academic demands, the challenges associated with social adjustment can be harder to surmount. The process of transition into elite universities has been described as a ‘trial’ as students from lower socio-economic backgrounds felt excluded from some social activities and networks.3
It is not the norm to view working class students making the transition to higher education as a maginalised group. But, although they are not marginalised compared to the working class majority, they become marginalised ‘outsiders within’ once they move into higher education. In particular, working class students at the post-1992 universities constitute the marginal within a marginalised section of the HE field, struggling to achieve a degree of fit.4
Policy initiatives focused on drastically increasing the representation of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds at highly selective universities are unlikely to have a significant impact on inequalities without action to address inclusivity. Wider structural changes are required to transform the culture of institutions and ensure more equal social positioning. Hence, in 21st-century Britain, class inequalities in higher education have shifted from being primarily about exclusion from the system to being about exclusion within it.5
Footnotes
- Kalwant Bhopal. (2018) White privilege: the myth of a post-racial society. Policy Press.
- Diane Reay et al. (2009) ‘Fitting in’ or ‘standing out’: working class students in UK higher education. British Educational Research Journal. 36: 1.
- S Coulson et al. (2018) Admissions, adaptations and anxieties: Social class inside and outside the elite university. In R Waller et al (eds). Higher education and social inequalities. Routledge.
- Diane Reay. (2018) Working class educational transitions to university: The limits of success. European Journal of Education, p. 537
- Diane Reay. (2017) Miseducation: Inequality, education and the working classes. Policy Press, p. 118.
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