Invisibly at Risk: Low-Income Students in a Middle- and Upper-Class World

Abstract

Women's studies programs, multicultural centers, and organizations to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students are campus fixtures. Few now question diversity's contribution to the education of all students. Jennifer Duffy suggests that it's time to acknowledge, support, and celebrate one more form of diversity that is mostly hidden: social class.

Understanding Social Class as Identity

“…Beyond this, we are informed by scholars’ recent attempts to nuance social and cultural class understandings. Due to the often invisible nature of social class (Duffy, ; Howard & Levine, ; Martin, ), and its near absence from the discourse in society (hooks, ), it is perhaps not surprising that educators and students alike struggle to articulate what it means to be in a particular social class or transitioning to another social class as one accumulates capital. Further, this void in our collective discourse, as a field, has left many educators and students without a language, awareness, or understanding of social class as an aspect of identity.…”

“…Some scholars have referred to social class as an often invisible aspect of identity noting that on a college campus it may be harder to distinguish who hails from a given social class background since students are likely to dress similarly, all be living in similar residence hall rooms, eating in the same cafeterias, and attending the same classes (Duffy, ; Howard & Levine, ; Martin, ). Additionally, other than nuanced social artifacts such as coveted brand names for clothing, bags, cars, and technological equipment, students do not navigate campus with clear indicators of their social class background; in other words, you typically could not identify an individual's social class simply by looking at them.…”

Table of Contents

“…As one student in London's study mentioned about her experience with her mother, "She has this idea that I'm way up there somewhere and she wants to drag me back" (p. 160). Because of this tension, first-generation college students may internalize feelings of shame rather than taking pride in their upward mobility (Duffy, 2007).…”

Gender and affect: linguistic predictors of successful academic performance among economically disadvantaged first year college students

“…As economic disparity grows, many students start college at a disadvantage. Education researchers have reported, for example, that students from economically impoverished backgrounds come to campus less prepared academically, with less economic and social capital, and experiencing greater stress than their more well-off peers (Beegle, 2000;Borrego, 2008;Brock, 2010;Cabrera & La Nasa, 2001;Duffy, 2007;Goldrick-Rab, 2006;Green, 2006;Howard, 2001;Kahlenberg, 2004;Lareau, 1987;Stinebrickner & Stinebrickner, 2002;Ting, 1998;Walpole, 2003;Yoder, 2005). As completion of college has been shown to provide social and economic advantages for financially disadvantaged students (Hout, 2012), it is important that we understand what contributes to success in this group of students.…”