“I am working-class”: Subjective self-definition as a missing measure of social class and socioeconomic status in higher education research.

This review provides a critical appraisal of the measurement of students’ social class and socioeconomic status (SES) in the context of widening higher education participation. Most assessments of social class and SES in higher education have focused on objective measurements based on the income, occupation, and education of students' parents, and they have tended to overlook diversity among students based on factors such as age, ethnicity, indigeneity, and rurality. However, recent research in psychology and sociology has stressed the more subjective and intersectional nature of social class. The authors argue that it is important to consider subjective self-definitions of social class and SES alongside more traditional objective measures. The implications of this dual measurement approach for higher education research are discussed.

本综述在高等教育扩大参与的背景下，针对学生社会阶层与社会经济地位（SES）的测量展开批判性评估。当前高等教育领域针对社会阶层与社会经济地位的多数评估，均采用基于学生父母收入、职业与受教育程度的客观测量方式，却往往忽视了由年龄、族裔、原住民身份及乡村属性等因素所塑造的学生群体多样性。然而，心理学与社会学领域的近期研究则着重指出，社会阶层具有更强的主观性与交叉性特征。作者们主张，将社会阶层与社会经济地位的主观自我界定，与更为传统的客观测量手段结合考量至关重要。本文还探讨了这种双重测量路径对高等教育研究的启示意义。