Graduate Student Social Class Identity: Social Constructions From the Poverty-Class and Working-Class Margins

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Social Class in Higher Education

Abstract

Graduate students from poverty-class and working-class backgrounds possess ambivalent feelings about the reference group and social class to which they identify; on one hand, this upbringing exerts significant influence on how one views their world. On the other hand, significant social mobility to middle-class professions and the effects of the current social class position provides competing influences on this view. This qualitative study used personal histories from graduate students from poverty-class and working-class backgrounds (N=60) to investigate dimensions of social class identity. Data analysis using SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys generated 6 dimensions of social class identity: (Social Class Issues, Academic Work Experiences, College Experiences, Family Issues, Work Locations, and Geographic Mobility) and identified strengths of relationships between them.

Author

• Jim Vander Putten, University of Arkansas at Little Rock