Abstract
In this chapter, I locate them as second-generation Pakistanis, born and brought up in Britain, but note how they had distinctive aspirations by comparison with more traditional British Pakistani women, including those from the first generation, more recently arrived transnational brides and others who had received a British education but had married early and not continued into post-compulsory education. I explore the formation and strength of their aspirations and begin to present their experiences in acquiring the cultural capital needed to underpin these aspirations.
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Notes
- 1.
Funding to support them learning English has been cut.
- 2.
Tenvir’s (2015) study in the south west of England showed how early marriage and lack of formal education can leave British-born Pakistani women vulnerable to patriarchal dominance.
- 3.
Recent work by Islam (2020) among lower-class women in New Delhi captured a similar sentiment. Her informants regarded only working outside the home as productive, and working in the home as non-work giving rise to feelings of inertia and boredom.
- 4.
For George Herbert Mead (1934) social interaction with other groups is significant in overcoming the tendency to perceive them only in a generalised way. Through interaction they can become ‘significant others’ who influence one’s sense of self. Positive communication and other forms of interaction are based on perceiving positive universal values in the other, which generate reciprocal sentiments in the relationship. For Mead this can give rise to intense emotional experiences, since there is a fusion between the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’, the biological or core (perhaps even spiritual) self and the socially constructed self or selves.
- 5.
The literal meaning of gori is White and its usage implies English, and also ‘gorian’ is the feminine plural.
- 6.
Recent statistics show very few Pakistanis take part in extracurricular activities. Around 4% of British Pakistani youth take part in music classes compared to 28% of British Indian and 20% of White British youth (From Social Mobility Commission report ‘Extra-curricular activities, soft skills and social mobility’ published July 2019).
- 7.
- 8.
For Robina and her family, financial success is regarded as a way out of living in a Pakistani area and helping ‘dreams’ to be fulfilled. Her family do succeed in moving to the suburbs later in her life, although it is not the fantasy they imagined. The local police have had to instal surveillance cameras on their property to try to deal with the racial harassment the family have been subjected to by local White youths. They are clearly on the periphery of the community and feel unwelcome in that area.
- 9.
Not all the women interviewed would characterise the area of this research as drug-ridden, even though it includes council housing. One shopkeeper however whom I talked with did indeed lament the drug culture amongst a cohort of second-generation boys.
- 10.
See also Shahrokni (2018) for a discussion of the current generation wanting to give back to former generations whose migration stopped them achieving their dreams.
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Saeed, A. (2022). An Overview of the Career Aspirations and Trajectories of My Informants. In: Education, Aspiration and Upward Social Mobility. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82261-3_5
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