Reconciling habitus through third spaces: how do Roma and non-Roma first-in-family graduates negotiate the costs of social mobility in Hungary?

Bereményi, Bálint Ábel; Durst, Judit; Nyírő, Zsanna

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2243441

Reconciling habitus through third spaces: how do Roma and non-Roma first-in-family graduates negotiate the costs of social mobility in Hungary?

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Bereményi Á, Durst J, Nyírő Z. Reconciling habitus through third spaces: how do Roma and non-Roma first-in-family graduates negotiate the costs of social mobility in Hungary? Compare. 2024 Apr 2;54(3):460-78. DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2023.2243441

Abstract

This article explores how first-in-family-graduate Roma and non-Roma Hungarians from the working-class experience education-driven social mobility and reconcile the dislocation of their primary-habitus due to changing class through transiting a ‘third space’. Drawing on Bhabha’s and bell hooks’ development of this concept, we aim to unpack the different ways how class-changers, in moving between the social milieu of their origin and their destination, occupy a unique position between two fields. Their social position is described as one of social navigators with a bridging potential between social classes. We also investigate what part higher education plays in this distinct form of changing class and becoming incorporated into middle-class society through a third space for those academic high achievers who come from working-class families. Contrasting the experience of Roma with non-Roma first-generation graduates in Hungary, we draw attention to the different opportunities of reconciling conflicting class-related habitus along ethno-racial lines.