The power of ‘unrecognizable habitus’: inclusion and exclusion among 10 British low-socio-economic status students abroad

Abstract

We present the experience of 10 British low-socio-economic status students who were supported by a charitable scheme to be internationally mobile and who are currently studying at a range of highly selective universities and liberal arts colleges in the North-Eastern United States. Based on semi-structured interviews and the discussion of artefacts symbolizing their experience, findings show that by moving across national contexts, cultural cues of socio-economic difference such as the vernacular become less recognizable, thus reducing the likelihood for ‘social identity threat’ and feeling of not belonging. The self-concept and habitus of these students is transformed, as they adopt the upper and middle-class dispositions and career pathways associated with elite college culture, thus suggesting the possibility of a wholesale escape of habitus.