Why do people from privileged class backgrounds often misidentify their origins as working
class? We address this question by drawing on 175 interviews with those working in …

The appeal of meritocracy is plain to see, because it appears to promote equality of
opportunity. However, in this paper we argue that meritocracy is also a deeply elitist project …

This book sets an agenda for the development of historical approaches to criminology. It
defines 'historical criminology', explores its characteristic strengths and limitations, and …

This article discusses a new interdisciplinary, mixed-methods approach to using data from
the first British Birth Cohort Study, the National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD …

How do people reconcile belief in meritocracy with the receipt of unearned economic gifts?
Drawing on interviews with first time homeowners who had bought property with familial gifts …

In recent years, there has been a revived sociological interest in assessing the lived
experience of upward social mobility. Several qualitative accounts have highlighted the …

Mountains have long been dominated by men and hypermasculine practices. Women have
worked hard to find a legitimate space in them. This paper is drawn from a qualitative study …

This paper responds to Nick Gane's “Against a descriptive turn”. I argue that descriptive
research strategies are more open and inclusive than those which purport to be causal …

Questions around social mobility then, have been at the forefront of many recent debates,
and these debates have rested on a particular interpretation of the history of social mobility …

A voluminous sociological literature sheds light on the multiple consequences of upward
mobility on individuals' psychological, emotional and relational lives. Much less studied …