The social capital of LSES students: Using student stories to mobilise student success

Social capital has been defined in various ways (Bourdieu, 1997; Coleman, 1998; Putnam, 1995) but generally it is associated with the social networks or connections and social structures that people are engaged with, and, has been attributed to social class and subsequently likelihood of success in education (Dika & Singh, 2002). Traditional theories of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds (LSES) attest that those cohorts have low levels of social capital (Bourdieu, 1997; 2011). This article challenges this assumption and contributes to the growing body of evidence that LSES students in higher education have well developed social capital (Devlin et al., 2012; Macqueen, 2018). Results of a doctoral study, examining the narratives of LSES students in higher education, demonstrates that the students have well-developed skills in seeking out support and social capital which challenges preconceived assumptions about socioeconomic status and social class (White, 2016). Despite life’s challenges LSES students were enabled via their own self-agency (Karimshah et al., 2013) to strive for success in higher education and, “their resourcefulness and their social capital aided their ability to navigate the complex and challenging higher education environment” (White, 2016, p.116). This report will share the stories of LSES students and how they mobilised their social capital in order to increase their likelihood of success at university.