Culture, Families, and Narratives – How Stories Can Foster Upward Educational Mobility

• In Event: 411 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Families, Poverty, and Inequality.

Abstract

Can stories foster surprising educational outcomes among disadvantaged students? Upward mobility in education is relatively rare and understudied in research on stratification, education, and migration. Cultural explanations drawing on concepts such as values, habitus, or narratives form an important part of existing research. In this paper I analyze 36 in-depth interviews with respondents from low socio-economic backgrounds, including both second-generation and non-immigrant respondents. Through my analysis, I construct a clear, systematic concept of narratives that foster upward educational mobility and describe the underlying mechanism. With this paper, I contribute to research on stratification, migration, and education by furthering our understanding of upward mobility in education and providing theoretical reflections on cultural explanations of educational outcomes. Specifically, I show how narratives can help explaining upward educational mobility and add to cultural explanations based on Bourdieu’s habitus concept.

Author

• Nicolas Martin Legewie, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)