The Educational Strategies of Danish University Students from Professional and Working-Class Backgrounds

This paper studies the educational strategies adopted by university students from different class backgrounds in a Scandinavian welfare regime. Studies shows distinct differences among classes relating to economic considerations, risk averse behavior, and patterns of socialization among university students. We investigate these differences through qualitative interviews with 60 students from six programs. We ask how and to what extent Danish students’ choice of program, their educational strategies, attitudes, and behaviors are class related. We find that strategies are class-based, but Danish working class students do not refer to their class cultural background or to a collective working class identity as either an asset or a challenge. Furthermore, financial constraints are not perceived as impacting their choice of higher education.