Regional structures of feeling? A spatially and socially differentiated analysis of UK student im/mobility

Donnelly, Michael; Gamsu, Sol

Abstract

This article explores the patterning of student im/mobility internally within the United Kingdom, using exceptionally detailed student records data on full-time undergraduate entrants from 2014. For this cohort of students, geographic mobility was clearly the preserve of the most socio-economically advantaged, and was less common for Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups. Significantly, the student’s ‘home’ region emerges as the most important factor driving im/mobility even when social, ethnic and educational differences are held constant. The concept ‘structures of feeling’ can help make sense of immobility in areas of the North-East, North-West and Wales, where students are likely to look on higher education choice through a different lens of accumulated and contemporary, inter-generational cultural experience. Exploring exceptions to the dominant trends, we also find a more complex patterning of im/mobility that is likely to reflect the deep historical and structural framing of young people’s socio-spatial horizons.

Citation

Donnelly, M., & Gamsu, S. (2018). Regional structures of feeling? A spatially and socially differentiated analysis of UK student im/mobility. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(7), 961-981. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2018.1426442

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 8, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Feb 12, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 12, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 16, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 12, 2020
• Journal: British Journal of Sociology of Education
• Print ISSN: 0142-5692
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3346
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 961-981
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2018.1426442
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1339693
• Related Public URLs: https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/regional-structures-of-feeling-a-spatially-and-socially-different