Knowing your place: social class & the interplay between work and non-work lives

Despite a growing awareness of class-based inequalities in the UK (Ashley et al., 2015), studies of social class have been criticised for their failure to acknowledge the impact of class origin on individuals’ experiences of work (Friedman, 2016). Moreover, the overriding discourse is of the beneficial outcomes of social mobility with less known about any associated difficulties (Freidman, 2013). Using interview data, we explore the experiences of social mobility for individuals of working-class origin who have class travelled by way of their education and occupation. We found that these individuals experienced feelings of insecurity and anxiety in the workplace as a result of their working-class roots. In response, they deployed various techniques to conceal their working-class origins and alleviate feelings of discomfort. Interestingly, when in the company of family and friends from home, interviewees reported using similar techniques in an effort to integrate back. They spoke of a feeling of disconnection between their work and home domains with no sense of belonging to either. Thus, the individual experience of social mobility appears to more onerous, complex and stressful than the positive nature that both academic and political discourse suggests.