An English study of social justice and student agency in the development of the capability to aspire: the role of capital, emotions and reflexivity.

This qualitative study considers individual agency in the development of the capability to aspire among nine female undergraduate students from working- and middle-class backgrounds studying in the management school of a Russell Group institution in Northern England. The study identifies the ways in which universities might better support female working-class students in the development of aspiration.
The capabilities approach provides a framework for the study which foregrounds issues of agency and social justice in the process of aspiration development. Within this framework Bourdieusian theory is deployed to undertake a thematic analysis of class-based differences in capital relevant to aspiration development, and techniques from narrative inquiry and life history are utilised to consider the ways in which emotions, capital and reflexivity, enhance or limit agency in the process of aspiration development.
The thesis brings together Bourdieusian theory and theories of reflexivity to provide new insights to individual agency in aspiration development. My analysis of participant stories indicates that class-based differences in capital influence the extent of agency in the development of aspirations, and that the accumulation of capital is important to the reflexive accommodation of change to personal biography and enhancement of individual agency. Social capital is of particular importance as informational support increases the range of visible possible futures and esteem, emotional and companionship support mitigate potential painful emotions as individuals move to new social fields. If individuals are unable to accumulate capital relevant to new social fields, reflexivity may be used to justify the status quo and limit individual agency.