E-book details

The Biographical Experience of Entering the Academic Profession. Popular-Class Lecturers at the Post-Socialist University

The Biographical Experience of Entering the Academic Profession. Popular-Class Lecturers at the Post-Socialist University

Kamil Łuczaj

Ebook

This book is devoted to upwardly mobile university lecturers or people who "escaped the collective fate of their class". The upward mobility of the academic faculty is under-researched in the peripheries of global knowledge production, although there is a significant interest in the social mobility of students. Up until now, no author has explicitly raised the question of how mobility is possible in a post-socialist higher education system, what emotional mechanisms it involves, and how mobility translates into cultural practices of upwardly mobile individuals.

Acknowledgments            7

 

Introduction. Upward Mobility, Semi-Peripheries, and the Academic Profession              9

Th Aim of the Book           9

Social Class, Globalization, and Superdiversity           10

Structure of the Book        12

 

Chapter 1. The Miraculous and the Inheritors in 21st Century Poland. On the Theories of Upward Mobility in Higher Education Beyond the Global Centers 13

Social Class as an Essentially Contested Concept       14

The Relational Understanding of Social Class             15

Social Class in Liquid Modernity     16

Social Reproduction, the Miraculous, and Non-Reproduction 19

The Rejection of Class at the Level of Public Discourse            21

The Dominated among the Dominated. Higher Education in Poland and the Issue of Class      24

Methods and Data            26

 

Chapter 2. How Are the Miraculous Born? The Anatomy of Upward Mobility 31

Research Problem: The Anatomy of Upward Mobility through Post-Socialist Academia            31

Factors Facilitating Mobility in Post-Socialist Academia           32

The Exceptional Talent and Precocious Skills             32

Supportive Family             33

Other Role Models: Human and Non-Human            38

Place of Birth       41

Egalitarian Higher Education System            42

Coincidence        48

Conclusions and Policy Implications             49

 

Chapter 3. The Burden of a Metamorphosis or a Blessing in Disguise? The Physiology of Upward Mobility     51

Realizing the Class Difference         51

Not Fitting in Academia: Estrangement and Fear       55

Deep career uncertainty   60

Losing Old Heritage (Cultural Breach)           64

Popular Class Background as an Academic Asset       69

Valuing the Culture of Origin          70

Reversed Transfer and Repayment 74

Conclusions         76

 

Chapter 4. Cultural Markers of Upward Mobility within Academia. Eastern European Perspective      77

Upward Mobility and Cultural Practices       78

TV Culture versus Book Culture      78

Ideological Sphere            82

Rediscovering Leisure Time            87

Traveling and Exploring    91

Eating Habits       97

Alcohol  102

Clothing & Post-Materialism          106

Highbrow Culture             114

Upward Mobility and Class Dispositions. Discussion  117

Outbound versus Inbound Orientation        117

Freedom to Choose versus “Realized Necessity”        118

Automatic versus Selective Consumption    120

Traditional versus Self-Created Definition of Life Success        121

Conclusions         123

The Unfinished Story of Upward Mobility. The Summary of Findings    126

Towards Policies 130

 

References          135

  • Title: The Biographical Experience of Entering the Academic Profession. Popular-Class Lecturers at the Post-Socialist University
  • Author: Kamil Łuczaj
  • ISBN: 978-83-8331-362-7, 9788383313627
  • Date of issue: 2023-12-21
  • Format: Ebook
  • Item ID: e_3rbf
  • Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego