PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Higher education institutions are key to the (re)production and legiti- mation of social inequalities and have increasingly been studied at the level of students in this respect. However, little research has been devoted to academic careers in the context of class-specific inequalities. The few studies available suggest an underrepresentation of less privileged scholars and focus on explaining the reproduction of these inequalities. In contrast, this paper refers to theories of the social self, bringing into focus an interactionist perspective suitable for explaining social mobility. Drawing on a comparative analysis of 27 autobiographical narrative interviews with German law and education professors of different social origins, the article reveals two mechanisms of upward social mobility. First, through posi- tive evaluations of student and academic performance—and the social comparison processes based on them—the confidence of socially mobile academics in their own abilities grows, and their self-concept changes. Second, social relationships and interactions with authoritative others also modify self-concepts. Both mechanisms are intertwined, in that performance indicators are closely linked to the formation of social relationships, positive evaluation, and encouragement by authoritative others. These findings contribute to scholarship on inequality research in higher education and social mobility research in general by providing comparative insights into class-specific academic careers and the mechanisms of social mobility within academia.