Mawson, Clare Margaret (2025) Medical Trailblazers – working-class students’ experiences of becoming a doctor. Doctoral thesis, York St John University.

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Abstract

This thesis critically examines the underrepresentation of working-class individuals in the UK medical profession, arguing that this disparity both reflects and perpetuates broader structural inequalities across higher education, healthcare, and society. Despite decades of widening participation initiatives, medicine remains predominantly staffed by those from managerial and professional backgrounds, and working-class voices are largely absent from the institutions that shape and deliver care (Friedman and Laurison, 2020; Social Mobility Commission, 2016).

Drawing on qualitative data from surveys and interviews with working-class medical students, I examine how class identity intersects with institutional culture, educational policy, and professional expectations. Using a sociological framework grounded in Bourdieu’s (1986) concepts of habitus, capital, and symbolic violence, alongside Yosso’s (2005) theory of community cultural wealth, I analyse how students navigate elite spaces that often misrecognise their cultural and emotional resources and contributions to equitable care.

My findings reveal that working-class students face not only economic barriers but also cultural exclusion, which demands emotional labour and fosters persistent misrecognition. While many demonstrate remarkable adaptability and commitment, their success often carries a personal cost, including pressure to relinquish valued aspects of their working-class identity to conform to middle-class institutional norms.

Crucially, I argue that working-class students bring unique value to medicine. Their lived experiences foster empathy, cultural humility, and relational understandings of care that are often absent from traditional medical training (Skeggs and Loveday, 2012; Reay, 2017). These students possess navigational, resistant, and familial capital, which enrich patient care and challenge deficit-based assumptions in clinical settings (Yosso, 2005; Crew, 2025).

I call for a reimagining of medical education and recruitment practices that move beyond symbolic inclusion to structurally recognise the legitimacy, insights, and contributions of working-class individuals. By centring their lived experiences, I aim to contribute to a more equitable, representative, and socially just medical profession.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
School/Department:	York Business School
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14859

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