The Poor Kids’ Table: Liberal Arts Students Organizing around a Stigmatized Identity in Flux

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Status and Belonging in Higher Education

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that the low-income, first-generation, and/or working-class (LIFGWC) student experience of higher education can be alienating and isolating. Because social class status is not often visible, LIFGWC students, who are the minority on four-year college campuses, may have difficulty finding others with whom they share similar experiences and, therefore, be less likely to integrate socially. In order to alleviate the pain and discomfort of the LIFGWC experience in higher education, students have worked to start groups for LIFGWC students on college campuses across the United States. In this study we use ethnographic methods to better understand the formation and maintenance of one such group at a small, selective liberal arts college in the Northeast. Through the inductive analysis of interviews with 16 students affiliated with the group, we identify three central themes. First, the invisible, individualist, and fluid nature of social class identity made for a unique challenge in organizing and recruiting members for the group. Second, many students saw the group as being a safe space where they could find others who shared similar experiences and a place for them to engage in personal storytelling without the fear of being judged. Third, some students found that the group redefined their relationship to campus, giving them the opportunity to feel more empowered and to develop leadership skills that they otherwise would not have identified in themselves. We conclude by outlining policy implications and future research directions informed by our findings.

Authors

• Debbie Warnock, University of Louisville

• Allison L. Hurst, Furman University