Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

in himself via the symbolic capital of university education and,on the other hand, investments in economic capital in the form ofa small business of his own. I understand Abraham’s talk aboutboth these types of investments as expressions of his ambition tobe upwardly mobile. But, it is the investment in higher educationthat in the interview with Abraham, as well as in the interviewswith several others, stands out as a must if one is striving forsocial esteem in Swedish society – which is the geographicalspace in which all of them place their future.Place and faceAs stressed by Skeggs (2000, 2004, 2007) the categoryof class has effects on those who are categorised becauseclassing practices construct subject positions that are valuedor less valued. And defining someone as working class (orunderclass) has the effect that this someone will be constructedas insufficient in different ways. In other words, designatingsomebody as working class or underclass is not only a questionof classification, but also of devaluation. This means peopleliving in stigmatized neighbourhoods are not only at risk ofbeing classed as belonging to lower strata, but also of beingdevalued. When Abraham says that the other students at theuniversity might position him as lower class – with all thedegrading characteristics that go with this classification – heconsequently also concludes that he thinks they will look downon him.So, Abraham and the other young people are at risk of beingclassed by their place of residence – as do the other inhabitantsof this neighbourhood. But being defined as lower class is, inAbraham’s answer above, not only connected to his place ofresidence, but also to him being positioned as an immigrant, i.e.as non-Swedish. The prerequisite for classifying him as non-Swedish (and as living in the deprived suburb and thereforeas lower class) is not spelled out by Abraham above, but it90