The continuing struggles of working classes

This seminar, organised by the British Psychological Society and Psychology of Social Class – UK Policy Implications (POSCUPI), took place at Leeds Beckett University and attracted over 80 attendees. Titled 'Psychology of classed (un)belonging in 'elite' work', three sessions were chaired by Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington (Psychological and Behavioural Science, LSE), Samantha Evans (Business School, University of Kent) and Brendan Gough (Psychology, Leeds Beckett University).

The seminar began with the powerful keynote from Bridgette Rickett (Psychology, Leeds Beckett University), who explored disparaging discourses around working-class academics. The ivory tower of academia was shown as both gendered and classed. University work culture needs to incorporate inclusivity in everyday practices to promote the true sense of belonging for everyone. Bridgette heeded the importance of the strong representation of working-class academics to the healthy work environment and to the success of working-class students.

To follow, Samantha Evans presented preliminary findings of hers and Maddy Wyatt's (Kings College London) research on measuring class work and social mobility. Sam's work demonstrated how social mobility created challenges, both in and outside of work.

Next up was Julia Buzan (Psychological and Behavioural Science, LSE) who discussed how students' socio-economic location predicted deprioritising jobs with the best long-term career prospects and therefore disadvantaging students from less privileged backgrounds.

After lunch we listened to the second keynote by Sam Friedman (Sociology, LSE) who shared his fascinating research on gendered experiences of social mobility in the British civil service. Working-class men were able to capitalise on the 'working boy done good' stereotype, drawing on masculinity, strength, uniqueness; working-class women recognised their background as shameful, downgrading, limiting. The women were found concealing their class indicating characteristics such as accent or leisure time activities in order to be perceived more professional.

Alex Baratta (Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester) delivered a splendid online presentation on the importance of accents to the perception of worth and success of educators. Working class teachers in his research often experienced prejudice and discrimination at work and were required to lose working-class or northern accents to speak 'properly'.

Rebecca Ashley (Business School, University of Kent) continued the discussion on the significance of accents, in her case, to belonging in the elite organisations. The solicitors in Rebecca's study modified the way they talked to display the desired work identity.

The last session was opened by Laura Kilby (Psychology, Sheffield Hallam University) who delivered an enlightening talk on class, sexuality and gender in the British Parliament. Laura delineated how the Daily Mail attributed Angela Rayner's supposedly inappropriate, unprofessional and indecent behaviour to her gender and working-class background.

The final presenter, Emily Dickens (Psychology, Leeds Beckett University) really moved the attendees with her research investigating the 'unbelonging' of working-class students in the academia. Emily shared emotive images from her study in which students portrayed the meaning of belonging and celebrated personal rather that standard and imposed values.

Most of the talks showed the importance of intersectionality of gender and class in the research across the disciplines. There was a recurring finding of a particularly negative attention towards working-class women. Discriminatory social norms diminished feminine characteristics but equally, ridiculed working-class women for the lack of femininity. Working-class women do not seem to have a positive representation and consequently strive to look, act and sound more middle-class which often leads to identity struggles and the sense of unbelonging.

Another fascinating common finding was humour as a way of coping with classism. This was revealed in the data across the presentations, but was also used by the presenters, who frequently included humorous anecdotes to navigate their own classed experiences.

The seminar showcased researchers from different fields, at various stages of their careers, all with common purpose: to raise awareness and profile of the research on class. All the presentations delivered concerning evidence of classism in the UK. However, the seminar was also an expression of hope for the more inclusive future. The sense of community and care among the academics was very energising and filled us all with optimism. Everyone in the room and those engaging online were passionate about social change.

The take-home message was that not only should we foreground the struggles of working-class people, women in particular, but also, we need to do more to celebrate working-class values and stories. Social mobility ought to mean creating opportunities for lower classes to benefit from moving up the social ladder but with the ability to preserve and cherish their stories and class identities. Middle class values, lifestyle, taste or talk must not be the benchmark for success.

The seminar demonstrated that social class research has now been embraced by most social and human sciences. It was a great platform to display the interdisciplinary attention which social class is gaining in academia. We now look forward to the next POSCUPI event in Aberystwyth, themed: Psychology of Social Class – Troubling "Employability".