(EDU8) Navigating Boundaries: Mobilities and Social Justice in Contemporary Education

The proposed session delves into the nuanced relationship between mobility and education, exploring its implications for social (in)justice. In the late modern era, mobility has become a fundamental requirement in our lives, demanded by society on multiple fronts (Canzler, Kaufmann & Kesselring 2008). In the context of migration, mobility stands as a constitutive element of our post-migrant society and in the educational field, mobility is traditionally perceived as a catalyst for transformation and an increase in knowledge and competences (Bernhard 2023). However, mobility and the accompanying processes of learning are never ‘neutral’ but always intertwined with societal power relations, forms of subjectification, and social inequality. The ways in which individuals respond to the imperative of mobility, the access they have to different forms of mobility, and the complex relation between mobility and educational success or failure all echo the broader questions of social justice. With our session, we want to unravel the meanings of mobility for social justice, shifting the focus to both physical movement and social mobility. In order to do so, we aim at bringing together scholars that investigate different forms of mobility, their effects and their relation to social (in)equality. We then focus on the following questions: What insights into societal norms and its transformations does the study of mobility yield? Which interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches are essential for comprehending mobility and its relation to education? How do mobility experiences shape the educational paths of young people? What role do mobility experiences play in fostering empathy, reflexivity, and political engagement and awareness? To what extent is mobility linked to inclusion and exclusion in education? How is access to mobility regulated, and what factors facilitate or impede it? What specific resources (e.g. forms of capital) are imparted through mobility experiences, and what prerequisites are necessary? Tags: Culture, Education, Equality and Inequality, Migration and Immigration

Organizers: Alessandra Polidori, Université de Neuchâtel, Flora Petrik, University of Tübingen; Chairs: Alessandra Polidori, Université de Neuchâtel, Flora Petrik, University of Tübingen

Presentations

Franziska Lessky, University of Innsbruck

Roots and Routes into Higher Education: Exploring Familial Dynamics and How They Shape First-in-Family Students' Perceptions of University

In the aftermath of the pandemic and its irrevocable disruption of higher education, calls for policymakers to equalize and widen participation of under-represented student groups, such as those who are the first in their families attending university (First-in-Family students), are intensifying in Western countries and beyond. These calls are supported by research arguing that a deeper understanding of how educational pathways are constituted and shaped is necessary to create measures aimed at dismantling barriers and moving towards a more inclusive and sustainable higher education system. While the persistence of educational levels has been extensively studied in the past, little is known about how individuals break the intergenerational cycle and what enables them to do so. Recent research in the sociology of education argues that exploring the dynamics within the family and their role in shaping educational pathways has been neglected in higher education studies so far. For the school context, these dynamics have been illuminated more prominently. In this regard, scholars in this field argue that focusing on milieu and social class, as dominant factors influencing educational pathways, is important, but it simplifies the complexity of the social and cultural contexts in which students are embedded. This study addresses this issue by shedding light on how familial dynamics shape First-in-Family students’ perceptions of university and what studying means to them. By drawing on the narratives of 31 students from four Austrian public universities (conducted between 2018 and 2024) and applying a theoretical understanding of familial interactions and Bourdieu’s habitus theory, this study illuminates the complex nature of familial dynamics and the ways they contribute to shaping the educational pathways of First-in-Family students and their perception of university. Using a hermeneutical methodological approach to analyse the empirical data, a typology of what studying subjectively means to First-in-Family learners will be presented. Three types were reconstructed from the empirical material, grounded in the students’ perceptions of familial dynamics and university: Studying as (1) emancipating from familial expectations, (2) aligning with familial expectations, and (3) breaking the intergenerational cycle. This presentation will conclude with theoretical implications on how we can gain a deeper understanding of how we can better support diverse learners and create a more inclusive and sustainable higher education system. By highlighting the importance of gaining a nuanced picture of First-in-Family students’ perceptions of university, I hope this study enriches discussions about which interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches can be used for comprehending (educational) mobility; how do mobility experiences shape the educational paths of learners; and what specific resources (e.g. forms of capital) are imparted through mobility experiences.

Maria Keil, University of Tuebingen

Youth, Urban Mobility and the Space of Possibilities

Addressing the panel’s question of how young people’s mobility, educational paths and social (in)equality are interrelated, the paper presents results from a longitudinal ethnography and interview study with adolescents from a German city. The study follows young people from different city districts throughout their transition from school into vocational training, higher education or unemployment and in different social settings, e.g. in youth clubs. The study uses a relational framework for studying social class in youth based on Bourdieu (1984, 1987) and by drawing on the concept of symbolic boundaries (Lamont and Fournier 1992; Lamont and Molnár 2002). The paper will zoom in on the aspect of mobility from different angles. Local mobility within the city and beyond will be illustrated along spatial appropriation and the interaction with institutions, such as schools, universities, youth clubs, museums, etc. Spatial appropriation is also interwoven with affective dimensions of social class intersecting with gender, ethnicity and religion. Social mobility refers to educational trajectories and vocational choices and is strongly linked to family trajectories and past mobility, e.g. migration. Contrasting two groups from my sample, a locally and community centred group of Muslim youth from the working and lower middle classes and a group of white middle-class youth with interrupted or abandoned school careers, different patterns of local and social mobility can be worked out. Whereas the former group aims at social upward mobility, but faces the risk of reproducing their social status based on their occupational choices, the second group faces a lower social status than their parents due to not following an academic path. Educational institutions such as schools, youth clubs and educational programmes play distinct roles in forming the respective pathways and local and social mobility can be ambiguously connected: Even though the upward aspirations by the Muslim youth are promoted by teachers in school as well as by social workers in the youth club, the strong local connection and in-group orientation accompanied by experiences of discrimination outside the district and anticipated social exclusion can also lead to reproducing occupational trajectories or even pursue semi-legal and criminal job careers. On the other hand, for the group of white middle-class youth a fit with the middle-class oriented school system could be expected and the reasons for the school dropout seem to be personal and mental health issues. Their appropriation of the local space in contrast allows them to find institutional settings they feel more comfortable in, such as an alternative educational programme to eventually catch up on their school exams. This relational lens on spatial mobility allows to shed light on the way the local and the social space are interrelated. It can be shown how youth mobility is distinctively shaped by families’ past social and local mobility, i.e. class and migration trajectories, but also by educational institutions. Evidently, the structuring force of the local space on the conduct of life and the space of possibilities varies among different societal groups.

Dan Woodman, University of Melbourne

Updating a Generational Lens for Understanding Contemporary Mobility: Global lessons for thinking about intergenerational change and intergenerational justice

Political, economic, and social changes and crises around the world are often interpreted through the lens of generational shifts, even intergenerational conflict. Others counter that a focus on generations obscures continuing differences and inequalities, particularly related to class and geography as it deemphasises important differences within age cohorts and contexts. Grounded in an overview of the sociology of generations and what it has to say about change and mobility, this presentation will look at the way the notion of generations is used in different parts of the world, with a focus on the Asia Pacific. This presentation interrogates and develops one of the major conceptual traditions for thinking about social change as it intersects with youth, education and the life course: the sociology of generations. Political, economic, and social changes and crises around the world are often interpreted through the lens of generational shifts, even intergenerational conflict. Other Influential voices counter that a focus on generations obscures continuing differences and inequalities, particularly related to class, geography, and mobility, within cohorts. In other words, generational framing is positioned as deemphasising important differences within age cohorts, within and between nations, and differing access to mobility (economic and geographic). Grounded in an overview of the sociology of generations and what it has to say about change and mobility, this presentation will look at the way the notion of generations is used in different parts of the world, with a focus on the Asia Pacific. I use these insights from multiple contexts to develop a generational approach to education and youth that I propose can be a useful addition to the theoretical approaches used to study young people’s geographical and social mobility. My approach both builds on and departing from the foundational sociology of generations developed by Karl Mannheim (1952), the renowned sociologist of knowledge and of education, proposing a way to think about social change and mobility that is better attuned to intergenerational dynamics within families (Woodman 2022). I develop Mannheim’s early insights on the role of intergenerational dynamics between students and teachers within the context of rapid social change, extending these ideas to intergenerational relationship within the family, particularly between parents and their young adult children when separated by social change and mobility. I propose that drawing on diverse understandings of generations from different parts of the world can help improve theorising within the Mannheimian tradition, orienting youth studies and education researchers to the effects of social change on the nature of intergenerational relationships, including new connections as well as intergenerational tensions. I illustrate this contemporary approach to the sociology of generations as it applies to mobility using two examples from my collaborative work. The first is a qualitative study of young creative workers, primarily musicians, in Indonesia who have relocated to Bali for their careers. The second is a mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) longitudinal study of young people in Australia who are being financially supported by their parents well into their young adulthood. Discussing these examples, I conclude that an orientation to generations is limited if it is only used to illustrate change across groups within countries, but not new connections and movements across borders. However, the opposite is also a limitation, too easily slipping into claims of a global generation that homogenise important differences between young people. A sociology of generations lens can be a usual additional to approaches to research on youth, education, and mobility, and for asking questions about social justice in the context of this research, but such a lens needs simultaneously to be aware of these differences and similarities across context and how they are being refigured in the contemporary.

Véronique Grenier, Université du Québec à Montréal

Information gathering prior to choosing a high school in Montreal : Immigrant parents between feelings of inadequacy, reconfiguration of their academic and social capital, and inequalities

For parents, choosing a school requires having information about different schools, laws and legislation governing admission, and local school market dynamics, as well as being able to evaluate this information and make a decision based on their assessment (van Zanten, 2009). Studies of parents’ information gathering work, i.e. the process of finding and evaluating information, have focused primarily on the effects of parents’ social class. (Ball, 2003; Fong, 2019; Wright-Costello and Phillippo, 2020). Thus, it is important to examine the effects of other characteristics on information gathering, particularly that of being an immigrant parent. First, the migratory process involves being displaced which, at least temporarily, affects a person’s capital, including capital useful for obtaining information and choosing a school, i.e. academic capital and social capital (Byrne and De Tona, 2012). Second, it creates a particular relationship to the host society and its institutions, including its education system (Adams and Kirova, 2011; Charette, 2016; Kanouté and Lafortune, 2010). However, thus far, little research has focused specifically on the work of gathering information used to choose a school by this category of parent (Byrne and De Tona, 2012; Weekes-Bernard, 2007). Given that it welcomes the majority of Quebec’s newcomers and due to its diversified, hierarchical school market, especially at the secondary level (Grenier, 2022; Hurteau and Duclos, 2017; Kamanzi, 2019), Montreal represents an appropriate urban context in which to explore this question. To this end, this communication analyzes immigrant parents’ experiences of gathering information to choose their children’s secondary school in Montreal. To do so, this communication uses data from a qualitative study of thirty immigrant parents’ experiences of choosing Francophone public or private high schools in Montreal. To explore parents’ experiences of information gathering, semi-directed interviews designed to collect retrospective accounts of choosing their children’s high school were analyzed. Analysis of empirical data was performed through an approach centered on actors and their experiences and the application of Bourdieu’s (1979, 1980) concepts of cultural capital and social capital. The analytical framework also considers the effect of the migratory process on a person’s capital and their relationship to the host society’s institutions, including its educational system (Byrne and De Tona, 2012). Furthermore, particular attention is paid to practices used by schools and school staff to disseminate information and support parents. Therefore, this communication explores, on one hand, the experiences, challenges, and specific needs of immigrant parents as they gather information and, on the other, their agency and proactiveness to mitigate feelings of ignorance, lack of referents, and urgency by leveraging their skills, advantages, or privileges. It also examines similarities in participants’ common experience of choosing their children’s school in another country and variations explained by reconfigured academic and/or social capital and differential pathways in the host society. It also points out inequalities in accessing information depending on the type of primary school attended by the children, especially in relation to the three-tiered hierarchical school system (regular public, enriched public and private schools). By focusing on a seldom-studied category in information gathering work, this article sheds light on experiences as yet rarely explored.