Social Class and University

Changing MENtality

In this episode George S talks to Robert Brown about Robert's experience of coming from a working class, low income background and how it has affected his time at university. Though the number of students attending university has increased in recent years, the disparity in representation between students from low income and high income remains the same. We talk about what effects that can have on students from those under-represented backgrounds.
A few books on relevant to this topic in the episode:
Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class - by journalist Owen Jones
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/chavs-the-demonization-of-the-working-class/9781839760921
This book explores the way the working class in the UK has been systematically marginalised and the negative attitudes that have been fostered about them by politicians and the media.
Limbo: Blue Collar Roots, White Collar Dreams - by journalist Alfred Lubrano
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/limbo-blue-collar-roots-white-collar-dreams/9780471714392
This is a book about the emotional challenges and internal conflicts people from working class backgrounds (in this case, in the US) face when attempting to get into middle class professions
Normal People - by novelist Sally Rooney
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/normal-people/9780571334650
A novel about the troubled relationship between two school friends, one from a working class background and the other from a much wealthier background (also turned into a hit TV drama!)
Though not mentioned here, George would highly recommend the novels of David Nicholls - a novelist from a working class background and writer of One Day, Us and (most notebe from a class perspective) Starter For Ten and Sweet Sorrow:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books?keywords=David+nicholls
As well as Christopher Eccalston's autobiography I Love the Bones of You: My Father and the Making of Me:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/i-love-the-bones-of-you-my-father-and-the-making-of-me/9781471176340
And Social Class in the 21st Century - by sociologist Mike Savage:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/social-class-in-the-21st-century/9780241004227
Though not mentioned in the episode, this explains the recent division of the UK into seven classes, the concepts of social, economic and cultural capital discussed here, and how there is an increasingly large disparity between the elite at the top and the procariat at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
If you would like support with your mental health, you can visit Students Against Depression:
https://www.studentsagainstdepression.org/