Reconciling working-class identity and educational success: a study of successful teenage boys, locality and schooling

Using a Bourdieuian theoretical framework the thesis seeks to understand the complexities of being educationally successful and working-class. The thesis works with the idea that habitus forms within a multiplicity of fields and explores the ramifications of the alignment or misalignment of the differing schemes of perception that these fields promote and produce. The thesis shows that for some boys this involves difficulty in reconciling conflicting schemes of perception from different fields.

In order to explain the processes involved in the internalization of plural schemes of perception the thesis has developed a four-way typology that considers differences in the impact of this conflict. The four types are reconciled habitus, destabilized habitus, abandoned habitus and re-confirmed habitus. Each habitus type relates to the impact of the ‘dialectical confrontation’ between two fields and the ways in which the boys negotiate this.

In doing so, this study contributes to an understanding of the psychosocial implications of educational success for working-class boys.