MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Earning a four-year college degree provides individuals with the credential for higher paying, professional occupations and the high status culture such a position can provide. But, individuals from low status group families need more than an academic credential to transition into the culture associated with such professional positions. Graduates who come from low status group families and therefore have little or no experience with cultural norms most often associated with the high status group are expected to acquire those cultural traits. The behaviors, attitudes and values associated with the high status group culture may differ and even conflict with what they were exposed to and learned while growing up. Those who come from the low status group must decide if and to what extent they will adopt this new culture. Do they find similarities between these cultures? Are there differences such that they feel the need to reject one and adopt the other? Or do they create an identity that combines aspects of both cultures? This decision has both personal and social identity implications. Thirty-nine white individuals who were the first in their family to graduate from a highly selective liberal arts college and who have attained a professional position were interviewed. During the in-depth interviews the participants recalled their experiences and reflected on their own understanding of their transition and identity. This study adds to the current body of knowledge regarding what the upward social mobility process is like, particularly in regard to personal and socio-economic standing identity.