A question of class: Exploring the career decisions, journeys and trajectories of academics from working-class backgrounds.

This thesis explores the career decisions, journeys, and trajectories of academics who identify as working-class or as having working-class heritage. Despite growing attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in higher education, social class remains underexplored. Adapting Gander’s (2022) Holistic Career Framework, it addresses a gap in the literature by centring the lived experiences of working-class academics and examining how class identity intersects with academic career development.

The study adopts a qualitative methodology grounded in critical realism, employing the voice-centred relational method of analysis. Data was collected through eighteen interviews with six UK-based academics from diverse institutional and disciplinary contexts. Participants were invited to co-construct their career narratives using artefacts such as career timelines and photos, enabling a rich, reflective exploration of their academic journeys.

Findings reveal that academics with working-class heritage often navigate complex and non-linear routes into the academy, shaped by financial precarity, cultural dissonance, and systemic barriers. Participants described experiences of imposterism, cleft habitus, and disproportionate emotional labour, yet also demonstrated resilience, navigational capital, and a strong commitment to social justice. The study highlights the hidden rules of academia, and the emotional labour required to navigate these, as well as to challenge deficit narratives and institutional elitism. While some participants expressed optimism and ambition for their careers, others described feelings of disillusionment with the sector, underscoring the emotional toll of navigating classed academic spaces.

This research contributes to an inclusive understanding of academic identity by foregrounding class as a lived, relational, and intersectional experience. It offers recommendations for institutions to better support working-class academics, including improved data collection, mentorship, and recognition of diverse career pathways. The study advocates for the inclusion of social class as a protected characteristic in UK equality legislation and calls for a reimagining of academic success that values authenticity, care, and critical hope.