Bowers-Brown, Tamsin (2018) ‘It Was Noticeable So I Changed’: Supergirls, Aspirations and Bourdieu in International Perspectives on Theorizing Aspirations: Applying Bourdieu’s Tools. In: Stahl, Garth, Wallace, Derron, Burke, Ciaran and Threadgold, Stephen, (eds.) International Perspectives on Theorizing Aspirations: Applying Bourdieu’s Tools. 1 ed. Social Theory and Methodology in Educational Research, 1 . London, Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 145-160

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Abstract

In recent years girls have been positioned as winners in the educational game, often depicted as fulfilling their role as ‘good pupils’ who, through hard work, are able to achieve success in the schooling system (see Mendick, Allen and Harvey 2015). Educational success is embodied by the ‘supergirl’ who is ‘popular, well adjusted, easy going, stress free, college [university] bound, and beyond oppression’ (Pomerantz, Raby and Stefanik 2013: 191). Allen reflects on how this discourse has crystallized the configuration of the ‘top girls’, who she argues are depicted as ‘central figures in propagating the neoliberal dream of upward social mobility’ (2016: 807). Upward social mobility also requires the so-called supergirl to have ‘high’ aspirations in line with a doxic expectation that she will invest in herself through her schoolwork and extracurricular activities to ensure that she remains a competitor in ‘the game’. The game is constituted by the social practices required to be successful within certain fields; these practices are not equally accessible to all competitors....

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.5040/9781350040359.0021
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) L Education > L Education (General)
School/Department:	Vice Chancellor's Office
Institutes:	Institute for Social Justice
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14457

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