Stepping Stones

Shields, S

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-88935-7_7

Stepping Stones

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Samantha Shields

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Abstract

© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Higher Education is posited as a route to upward social mobility. However, the women in this study had different understandings of what social mobility meant to them and significantly, how important it was to them. This new phase of the life project indicated that internal conversations were characterised by either fulfilling neoliberal ideals or facilitating the greatest sense of personal happiness. The life-projects of the Horizon-Expanders focused on intergenerational mobility, but for the Incremental-Hybrids the focus was on intragenerational mobility. The Incremental-Hybrids and Returners emphasised ‘dovetailing’, with their overriding commitment to family. For the Returners, there was a sense of confidence in moving to a new social-class position based on a change in occupation, whilst remaining in their existing familial contexts.