Get lucky? Luck and educational mobility in working-class young people’s lives from age 10–21

Bibliographic Data

ID11166264
AuthorsLouise Archer (0000-0002-0254-4234, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK, corresponding author), Becky Francis (0000-0002-9966-0003, Education Endowment Foundation, London, UK), Morag Henderson (0000-0003-0107-4899, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK), Henriette Holmegaard (University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark), Henriette Tolstrup Holmegaard (0000-0003-4245-3983, University of Copenhagen), Emily Macleod (0000-0002-0666-0056, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK), Julie Moote (0000-0002-8154-0847, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK), Emma Watson (0000-0001-6627-6665, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK)
Year2023
Volume44
Issue5
Pages843-859
Publication date2023-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0142-5692 • E-ISSN: 1465-3346
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01425692.2023.2211234
OpenAlexW4376253591
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited23

Scant sociological attention has been given to the role of luck within social mobility/reproduction. This paper helps address this conceptual gap, drawing on insights from over 200 longitudinal interviews conducted with 20 working-class young people and 22 of their parents over an 11-year period, from age 10–21. We explore the potential significance of luck within the trajectories of 13 educationally mobile young people who were the first in family to go to university, six young people who achieved similar educational levels to their parents and one young person whose status was less clear cut. Our analysis suggests that particular forms of luck may be instrumental in creating opportunities for social mobility, although the consequentiality of these are mediated through interplays of agency, structure, habitus and capital. We conclude that paying further attention to luck may help augment sociological understandings of structure/agency and Bourdieusian understandings of social reproduction

Agency (philosophy · Cultural capital · Economics · Epistemology · Habitus · Luck · Reproduction · Social capital · Social class · Social mobility · Social reproduction · Social science · Sociology · Structure and agency · Gender Studies · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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