The capacity to aspire to higher education

‘It's like making them do a play without a script’

Bibliographic Data

ID12906239
AuthorsJessica Bok (University of South Australia, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume51
Issue2
Pages163-178
Publication date2010-05-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Studies in Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1750-8487 • E-ISSN: 1750-8495
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17508481003731042
OpenAlexW2015809974
LanguageEN
Citations received72
References cited22

Aspiration is currently a prominent concept in higher education policy debates. However, reference to this concept is often made in terms of low socio-economic status (SES) students simply lacking aspiration, which schools and universities must work to instill. In contrast to this potentially deficit view, this paper draws on Appadurai's notion of the ‘capacity to aspire’, which reframes aspiration as a cultural category rather than an individual motivational trait. It discusses the proposition that low SES students do have substantive aspirations, but may have less developed capacities to realise them. Bourdieu's theories of cultural capital, habitus and field provide a supplementary theoretical framework, which draws attention to the complex relationships between socio-cultural background and life-world experiences that inform students' and families' dispositions toward school and their capacities to aspire to higher education

Pedagogy · Sociology · Education Systems and Policy · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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