Gendered and classed graduate transitions to work: How the unequal playing field is constructed, maintained and experienced

Bradley, Harriet; Waller, Richard

Abstract

A recent Institute of Fiscal Studies report (Crawford and Vignoles, 2014) of 200,000 graduates showed those who had attended independent schools on average earned 18% more than peers from state schools 3.5 years after university. Even for graduates from the same universities studying the same subjects going into the same jobs upon graduation, the pay gap was still 6%! Using data from a three year Leverhulme Trust funded study of the experiences of working- and middle-class students at Bristol’s two universities (the Paired Peers study), we explore the processes of capital acquisition, accumulation and mobilisation necessary to secure advantageous graduate outcomes for those from established middle-class backgrounds, as enjoyed by the young men in particular. We present a typology of four graduate outcomes: ‘on-track’, ‘pushing forward’, ‘drifting’ and ‘deferred career’, and demonstrate how, whilst agency does have a part to play in deciding the pathway followed, structural positioning is significantly more influential for any given individual’s outcome. We also show how attending a Russell Group university does indeed increase an individual’s chances of securing a professional graduate outcome, especially if it follows attendance at a fee paying or otherwise selective school.

Citation

Bradley, H., & Waller, R. (2018). Gendered and classed graduate transitions to work: How the unequal playing field is constructed, maintained and experienced. In R. Waller, N. Ingram, & M. R. Ward (Eds.), Higher Education and Social Inequalities: University admissions, experiences and outcomes, 210-230. Routledge

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 210-230
• Series Title: Sociological Futures
• Book Title: Higher Education and Social Inequalities: University admissions, experiences and outcomes
• ISBN: 9781138212886
• Keywords: Graduate outcomes; social class; education and social mobility; higher education; typologolgy
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/Higher-Education-and-Social-Inequalities-University-Admissions-Experiences/Waller-Ingram-Ward/p/book/9781138212886
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Higher Education and Social Inequalities: University admissions, experiences and outcomes on 31st July 2017, available online: https://www.routledge.com/Higher-Education-and-Social-Inequalities-University-Admissions-Experiences/Waller-Ingram-Ward/p/book/9781138212886