Working in Class

Recognizing How Social Class Shapes Our Academic Work

By (author) Allison L. Hurst, Sandi Kawecka Nenga

Publication date:

22 January 2016

Length of book:

220 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

239x159mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781475822526

More students today are financing college through debt, but the burdens of debt are not equally shared. The least privileged students are those most encumbered and the least able to repay. All of this has implications for those who work in academia, especially those who are themselves from less advantaged backgrounds. Warnock argues that it is difficult to reconcile the goals of facilitating upward mobility for students from similar backgrounds while being aware that the goals of many colleges and universities stand in contrast to the recruitment and support of these students. This, combined with the fact that campuses are increasingly reliant on adjunct labor, makes it difficult for the contemporary tenure-track or tenured working-class academic to reconcile his or her position in the academy.
Students from working-class families struggle to succeed in universities run by individuals from more privileged backgrounds. Universities expand course offerings while reducing tenure track faculty positions, creating an underclass of highly educated, poorly paid adjunct instructors. Professors from working-class origins describe daunting barriers to career advancement, role rewards, and psychological well-being in the academy. And yet many faculty members and administrators minimize the significance of class in North American universities. This well-crafted volume offers fresh insights into the nature and consequences of socioeconomic class in higher education. Contributors draw on the work of sociologists C. W. Mills and Pierre Bourdieu to explore why class matters, examining the psychological and structural forces that have produced current conditions. The authors offer poignant narratives of their life experiences in the academy, describe research findings, and offer insightful syntheses of classic and more recent literature on how class dynamics affect teaching, research, and faculty service. The book includes a comprehensive, well-chosen, and timely reference list. It is essential reading for all who care about the future of higher education as a vehicle for upward mobility, including faculty members, graduate students, administrators, and educational policy makers.

Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels.