10 - Diverse graduate trajectories in austere times: the case of young working-class women in the UK

Summary

Introduction

Though graduates of UK universities have what is considered to be a life-long ‘graduate premium’ (Kemp-King, 2016) consisting of higher earnings and increased potential for upward social mobility than non-graduates, this does not protect all graduates from hardship. This chapter examines the diversity in trajectories of recent graduates in the UK through exploring the narratives of 15 working-class women who graduated from their undergraduate courses in 2013. The analysis draws on a dataset of 79 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2012 and 2017.

The chapter argues that while some working-class women graduates achieve upward social mobility as a result of attending higher education (HE), securing this upward trajectory requires far more than a university degree. Economic capital as well as ‘valuable’ cultural and social capital are required, and the most privileged are more likely to have access to these capitals, as well as the knowledge on how to mobilise them in order to find professional employment. This ‘game’, characterised by the intense hypermobilisation of capitals, takes place within a landscape that has become increasingly hostile and harmful to working-class people since the turn of the century. Austerity programmes have ravaged ‘left behind areas’ and welfare provision, leaving in their wake reduced employment prospects for some young people and an increase in the debts that they carry, as well as little in the way of a ‘safety net’. Further, the growth in insecure employment has made the lives of some working-class groups precarious. Graduates are not immune to these conditions, as the narratives presented in this chapter show.

This work demonstrates how young working-class women graduates operate within this landscape, strategise to cultivate distinctive curricula vitae (CVs) and become upwardly socially mobile. It explores too how they negotiate access to the welfare state, navigate the gig economy, precarious working conditions and economic hardship post-graduation. Before data are presented, literature on widening participation, graduate employment and the welfare state is examined. First, the policy and political context in which these women accessed university and the labour market is considered.