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Atrocity stories and access to elite universities: chickens at the station

Hillyard, S.; Tummons, J.; Winnard, S.

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Authors

S. Hillyard

S. Winnard



Abstract

The article explores the interactional management of class relations using atrocity stories as a conceptual device vis‐à‐vis new case study data. We argue that interactionist ideas are well placed to comment on the hidden injuries of class in the higher education sector and demonstrate this using atrocity stories and Goffman's work. We use the atrocity stories of atypical cases (non‐traditional graduates of an elite university) to expose class differences. Atrocity stories and Goffman's work on cooling, impression management, and total institutions were used here to unlock extended interviews with graduates from the 1960s–1980s who attended one elite British university. The findings expose the manifestation of the English class structure and a variety of responses. The conclusion finds evidence of resistance rather than challenge. A call is made for more longitudinal ethnographic research exploring how universities might promote access agendas—with particular attention to those both upwardly and downwardly mobile.

Citation

Hillyard, S., Tummons, J., & Winnard, S. (2021). Atrocity stories and access to elite universities: chickens at the station. Symbolic Interaction, 44(3), 533-554. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.513

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 1, 2020
Online Publication Date Sep 17, 2020
Publication Date Aug 3, 2021
Deposit Date Sep 17, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Symbolic Interaction
Print ISSN 0195-6086
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 44
Issue 3
Pages 533-554
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.513

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2020 The Authors. Symbolic Interaction published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.




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