NCJ Number
225630
Journal
Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2009 Pages: 114-141
Date Published
January 2009
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study examined the factors that facilitated respondents’ social mobility.
Abstract
This study reveals that resilience goes beyond the protective factors currently highlighted within the resilience literature, noting that all respondents also benefited from access to the habitus of the middle class, without which they would not have exhibited the same level of resilience. This study highlights the need for a better understanding of how the habitus, and most particularly the interactional style of the lower and working classes in comparison with that of the middle and upper classes affects access to important resources for social mobility. This functions in a multistage process, from initially acquiring information about the availability of resources to understanding how to access identified resources, and finally how to maneuver within the context once the resources have been gained. This study argues that a sociological perspective is necessary to complete the picture of resilience, examining the individuals’ social capital and the material resources to which resilient respondents gain access as a result. This study confirms that while the personal characteristics and protective factors are important, it also reveals a critical interaction effect with the differing habitus of social classes. Finally, this study supports an argument that the process of resilience was fostered through material resources that provided respondents with access to the habitus of the middle class, and thus a critical understanding of the interactional style expected within powerful institutions. Data were collected through life-history interviews with 48 people who were first-generation college students. Table and references