Socio-spatial mobilities and narratives of class identity in Britain

(2018) - Andrew Miles, Adrian Leguina

Journal: British Journal of Sociology
Link::
DOI:: 10.1111/1468-4446.12624
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Tags:: #paper #NCDS #Mobility #SocialClass
Cite Key:: [@Miles2018]

Abstract

In 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 spatialization 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 performs a significant role in regional cultural divisions.

Notes

“1958 Birth Cohort Study, combining text-mining and correspondence analysis in order to examine the intersection of geographical and social mobility with class identities.” (Miles and Leguina, 2018, p. 1063)

“In this paper we apply a new combination of analytical techniques to data from the 1958 Birth Cohort Study in order to carry out a systematic, integrated analysis of socio-spatial mobilities and their impact on class identities. We show that the role of the South of England as an escalator region, first” (Miles and Leguina, 2018, p. 1087)

“identified by Fielding in the 1980s (1992, 1995), remains intense. In doing so we provide some support for the SMC’s contention that London is an ‘engine room’ for upward social mobility (SMCPC 2015, 2016).Working-class men and women migrating to the South from the North and the Midlands have much higher rates of success in achieving social advancement than their regionally static peers” (Miles and Leguina, 2018, p. 1088)