Finding or losing yourself?: working-class relationships to education

Abstract Working-class relationships to education have always been deeply problematic and emotionally charged, inscribing academic failure rather than success. In this paper I briefly explore both the history of those relationships and representations of the working classes within dominant discourses, before moving on to outline some of the consequences of contemporary educational policy for working-class subjectivities. I do this by drawing on data from three research projects: one on higher education choice; one on transitions to secondary schooling; and a third on assessment in primary schools. However, working-class relationships to education cannot be understood in isolation from middle-class subjectivities so I also try to begin to map out some of the unconscious aspects of class that implicate both middle- and working-class subjectivities.