Abstract
Sociological research has long been interested in inequalities generated by and within educational institutions. Although relatively rich as a literature, less analytic focus has centered on educational mobility and inequality experiences within graduate training specifically. In this article, we draw on a combination of survey and open-ended qualitative data from approximately 450 graduate students in the discipline of sociology to analyze graduate school pipeline divergences for first-generation and working-class students and the implications for inequalities in tangible resources, advising and support, and a sense of isolation. Our results point to an important connection between private undergraduate institutional enrollment and higher-status graduate program attendance—a pattern that undercuts social-class mobility in graduate training and creates notable precarities in debt, advising, and sense of belonging for first-generation and working-class graduate students. We conclude by discussing the unequal pathways revealed and their implications for merit and mobility, graduate training, and opportunity within our and other disciplines.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 148-173 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Sociology of Education |
Volume | 97 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2024 |
Keywords
- first-generation/working-class students
- graduate education
- social mobility
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Sociology and Political Science