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Different Routes to University: Exploring Intersectional and Multi-Dimensional Social Mobility Under A Comparative Approach in Chile

Author

Listed:
  • Denisse Sepúlveda

    (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Switzerland)

  • Andrea Lizama-Loyola

    (University of Nottingham, UK)

Abstract

The article aims to cover a gap in research, including an ethnic dimension to explore the relationship between people’s trajectories and their experiences at university. Drawing on a retrospective life-story approach, the article compares how 55 respondents of different social origins recount both their routes to university and their experiences at university. By adopting an intersectional lens of analysis, we argue that differential experiences at university affect people’s trajectories of social mobility. Data from two qualitative studies are analysed in this article to explore how class and ethnic background, but also people’s location in urban or rural areas and other aspects of their family situation, affected their educational routes to earning a university place. We argue for the subjective experience of social mobility as a process of achievement, but one fraught with numerous obstacles and challenges. This article shows that respondents from working-class social backgrounds encounter different barriers because of the lack of socioeconomic resources, previous educational disadvantages, class/ethnic discrimination, and family cultural background. Meanwhile, respondents from middle-class and upper-class backgrounds have to face different issues related to their families’ expectations of maintaining their social status. Based on those findings, we suggest that research on social mobility needs to consider multiple and intersectional dimensions that frame an individual’s life trajectories, instead of focusing on movements between fixed educational or occupational positions.

Suggested Citation

  • Denisse Sepúlveda & Andrea Lizama-Loyola, 2022. "Different Routes to University: Exploring Intersectional and Multi-Dimensional Social Mobility Under A Comparative Approach in Chile," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 154-171, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:27:y:2022:i:1:p:154-171
    DOI: 10.1177/1360780421990024
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alejandra Mizala & Pablo González & Pilar Romaguera & Andrea Guzman, 2000. "Los maestros en Chile: Carreras e Incentivos," Research Department Publications 3102, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    2. Alejandra Mizala & Pablo González & Pilar Romaguera & Andrea Guzman, 2000. "Los maestros en Chile: Carreras e Incentivos," Research Department Publications 3102, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    3. Michelle Addison & Victoria & G. Mountford, 2015. "Talking the Talk and Fitting In: Troubling the Practices of Speaking? ‘What you are Worth’ in Higher Education in the UK," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(2), pages 27-39, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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