'University's not for me - I'm a nike person': Urban, working-class young people's negotiations of 'style', identity and educational engagement

This article explores how urban working-class young people's performances of embodied identities - as enacted through practices of 'taste' and style - are played out within the educational field. The article considers how such practices may contribute to shaping young people's post- 16 'choices' and their views of higher education as 'not for me'. Drawing on data from longitudinal tracking interviews with 53 individual young people and discussion groups with a further 36 pupils, the articles discusses the double-bind experienced by these young people as a result of their performances of style. It is argued that whilst the young people seek to generate worth and value through their investments in style, these practices may also play into oppressive social relations and contribute to fixing the young people within marginalized and disadvantaged social positions.