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Download fileSocio-spatial mobilities and narratives of class identity in Britain
journal contribution
posted on 2018-11-29, 10:07 authored by Andrew Miles, Adrian LeguinaAdrian LeguinaIn this article we carry out the most comprehensive analysis of social and spatial mobility in the UK to date and the first to directly link different dimensions of mobility to processes of social class formation. Using new analytical techniques in this field, we integrate quantitative and qualitative data from the 1958 Birth Cohort Study, combining text-mining and correspondence analysis in order to examine the intersection of geographical and social mobility with class identities. This work reflects a revival of interest in the spatialisation of class inequalities, which is connected to policy concerns about the regional dimension of Britain’s mobility ‘crisis’ that have intensified in the wake of the ‘Brexit’ vote. We find that the South’s role as an ‘escalator’ region for upward mobility has continued and that the relationship between social and spatial mobility both confirms and qualifies the role of London and the South East in generating inequalities. We show that different migration-mobility transitions are associated with distinctive and contrasting class identity narratives. Those who move from North to South stand out in particular for the way their ‘class talk’ reveals the social disorientation that attends their success. The contrasting ways in which other groups express their social identities suggests that the interplay of geographical and social mobilities play a crucial role in regional cultural divisions.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies
Published in
British Journal of SociologyVolume
69Issue
4Pages
1063-1095Citation
MILES, A. and LEGUINA, A., 2018. Socio-spatial mobilities and narratives of class identity in Britain. British Journal of Sociology, 69 (4), pp.1063-1095.Publisher
Wiley © London School of Economics and Political ScienceVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: MILES, A. and LEGUINA, A., 2018. Socio-spatial mobilities and narratives of class identity in Britain. British Journal of Sociology, 69 (4), pp.1063-1095, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12624. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Acceptance date
2018-10-26Publication date
2018-12-21Copyright date
2018ISSN
0007-1315eISSN
1468-4446Publisher version
Language
- en