Travels in extreme social mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education

Southgate, E; Brosnan, C; Lempp, H; Kelly, B; Wright, S; Outram, S; Bennett, A

Travels in extreme social mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education

Southgate, E Brosnan, C

Lempp, H Kelly, B Wright, S Outram, S Bennett, A

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Critical Studies in Education, 2017, 58 (2), pp. 242 - 260
Issue Date:: 2017-05-04

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Southgate, E	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Brosnan, C https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2104-4937	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lempp, H	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kelly, B	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wright, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Outram, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Bennett, A	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-05-04	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Critical Studies in Education, 2017, 58 (2), pp. 242 - 260	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1750-8487	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124832
dc.description.abstract	© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself–and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants’ social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school ‘the hard way’, and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like ‘imposters’, using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of ‘fit’ in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students’ stories reflect a tactical refinement of self and incorporation of certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their ‘difference’ brings to their new destination, the medical profession.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Critical Studies in Education	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/17508487.2016.1263223	en_US
dc.title	Travels in extreme social mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	58	en_US
utslib.for	1301 Education Systems	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	1303 Specialist Studies in Education	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	58	en_US

Abstract:

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself–and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants’ social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school ‘the hard way’, and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like ‘imposters’, using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of ‘fit’ in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students’ stories reflect a tactical refinement of self and incorporation of certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their ‘difference’ brings to their new destination, the medical profession.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124832