From Social Origin to Academia: Types of Social Desynchronization Among Swedish Higher Education Students

• In Event: Strategies, Struggles, and Structures of Social Mobilities: Schooling, Higher Education, and International Education

Abstract

By using Bourdieu’s concepts of hysteresis and cleft habitus this study explores the process of social desynchronization that Swedish higher education (HE) students experience in relation to their social origin when pursuing HE. The longitudinal study follows ten students over five years, identifying three types of desynchronizations. Immediate desynchronization occurs when students quickly distance from their origins with support. Gradual desynchronization involves a slow shift, with students initially struggling but eventually integrating into academia at the cost of distancing from their origins. Interrupted desynchronization is marked by students failing to adapt and compromising their goals. The findings emphasize the need to understand the student's cultural and educational capital in relation to their education's social position within the hierarchical HE-field.

Author

• Magnus Persson, Linnaeus University