‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town.
If upward social mobility involves moving from one social position to a higher one, social immobility should involve staying still. Yet this thesis demonstrates that all social agents travel in social space, regardless of whether their trajectories are classed as mobile or immobile. Whilst policymak...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/76945/ |
| _version_ | 1848800949845360640 |
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| author | Wright, Brittany |
| author_facet | Wright, Brittany |
| author_sort | Wright, Brittany |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | If upward social mobility involves moving from one social position to a higher one, social immobility should involve staying still. Yet this thesis demonstrates that all social agents travel in social space, regardless of whether their trajectories are classed as mobile or immobile. Whilst policymakers see schools as sites of social mobility, the findings presented here suggest that education is just one field that social agents travel through, patterned with the inequalities that pervade other social fields and the overarching field of power. Place is the prism through which these social inequalities are refracted: the locus for a social agent’s positions in overlapping social fields. By synthesising Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical-methodological toolkit with Doreen Massey’s conception of space as relational, interconnected, and characterised by multiplicity, this place-based study maps the educational inequalities faced by working-class girls and women who have lived, learned, and worked in Coalville from the mid-20th century to the 21st century. Through historical ethnography, the study illustrates how inequalities are (re)produced over time. Schooling opens up or closes down opportunities for working-class women based on their positions within complex webs of social relations. Far from being engines of social mobility, the capacity of schools to promote upward mobility can be constrained by their own positions within social space and place.
Interviews with former educators reveal the dynamics of the local field of education. The study then moves beyond the school gates to explore working-class women’s trajectories through the field of work in a local toy factory, tracing the implications of these for women’s social mobility and the potential mobility of their daughters and granddaughters. The (re)production of working-class women’s proficiencies across the generations can be as significant for upward mobility as the institutionalised cultural capital that is unequally offered by formal schooling. Finally, the thesis considers the aspirations of working-class girls studying in Coalville in 2021, relating these to the trajectories of those who lived, learned and worked in the town before them.
The thesis makes the case that policymakers should engage with complex webs of educational inequalities on a local level if they truly aspire to level up those parts of England that are viewed as left-behind through social mobility. It outlines practical recommendations for schools serving deindustrialised communities and for researchers exploring social class, gender, education, and social mobility. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:59:41Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-76945 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:59:41Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-769452024-07-31T04:40:19Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/76945/ ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. Wright, Brittany If upward social mobility involves moving from one social position to a higher one, social immobility should involve staying still. Yet this thesis demonstrates that all social agents travel in social space, regardless of whether their trajectories are classed as mobile or immobile. Whilst policymakers see schools as sites of social mobility, the findings presented here suggest that education is just one field that social agents travel through, patterned with the inequalities that pervade other social fields and the overarching field of power. Place is the prism through which these social inequalities are refracted: the locus for a social agent’s positions in overlapping social fields. By synthesising Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical-methodological toolkit with Doreen Massey’s conception of space as relational, interconnected, and characterised by multiplicity, this place-based study maps the educational inequalities faced by working-class girls and women who have lived, learned, and worked in Coalville from the mid-20th century to the 21st century. Through historical ethnography, the study illustrates how inequalities are (re)produced over time. Schooling opens up or closes down opportunities for working-class women based on their positions within complex webs of social relations. Far from being engines of social mobility, the capacity of schools to promote upward mobility can be constrained by their own positions within social space and place. Interviews with former educators reveal the dynamics of the local field of education. The study then moves beyond the school gates to explore working-class women’s trajectories through the field of work in a local toy factory, tracing the implications of these for women’s social mobility and the potential mobility of their daughters and granddaughters. The (re)production of working-class women’s proficiencies across the generations can be as significant for upward mobility as the institutionalised cultural capital that is unequally offered by formal schooling. Finally, the thesis considers the aspirations of working-class girls studying in Coalville in 2021, relating these to the trajectories of those who lived, learned and worked in the town before them. The thesis makes the case that policymakers should engage with complex webs of educational inequalities on a local level if they truly aspire to level up those parts of England that are viewed as left-behind through social mobility. It outlines practical recommendations for schools serving deindustrialised communities and for researchers exploring social class, gender, education, and social mobility. 2024-07-31 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/76945/1/Wright_Brittany_Stuck_in_Place_PhD_Thesis_As_Examined.pdf Wright, Brittany (2024) ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. social mobility social class gender education coalmining deindustrialisation educational inequality women Palitoy Coalville |
| spellingShingle | social mobility social class gender education coalmining deindustrialisation educational inequality women Palitoy Coalville Wright, Brittany ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| title | ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| title_full | ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| title_fullStr | ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| title_short | ‘Stuck in place?’ A place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| title_sort | ‘stuck in place?’ a place-based study of how far education contributes to social mobility for working-class women in a former coalmining town. |
| topic | social mobility social class gender education coalmining deindustrialisation educational inequality women Palitoy Coalville |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/76945/ |