Paper Short Abstract:

Our presentation focuses on the inner tensions that arise from the contradictions of the normative expectations of social mobility and limited structural opportunities for it. We present these contradictions of social mobility through the case of Roma youth in a small peripheral Hungarian town.

Paper Abstract:

The presentation focuses on the inner tensions that arise from the contradiction of the normative expectations of social advancement and limited structural opportunities for it. Due to historically grounded structural racism, people who belong to the Roma ethnicity in Hungary often struggle with the psychological condition called “divided habitus” related to this contradiction. Grounded in Bourdieu's theory, we contend that dispositions are shaped not only by objective structures but also by normative expectations. Drawing on extended fieldwork in a small peripheral Hungarian town, we highlight that such tensions are the lived experience not only of those who manage to socially ascend, as previous research has thus far shown but also of those who cannot. Focusing on the struggles of the 'unsuccessful many’, our presentation explores these inner tensions through the case of disadvantaged Roma youth. We show that they face the dual pressures of having to adjust to their disadvantaged circumstances on the one hand and aspiring for social mobility on the other, which could lead to alienation from their current context. By examining the related tensions within their family, education, and their relations to the broader local Roma community, we expose the inherent contradictions of pursuing social advancement. Whereas understanding individual trajectories within social structures is crucial to unraveling the complexities of social mobility, our analysis points beyond the case of Hungarian Roma, suggesting that this double pressure might be present in different social positions affected by the normative expectations of social mobility too.