Returning to rural origins after higher education: gendered social space

This study is important for rural actors interested in developing recruitment and retention strategies directed towards attracting the tertiary educated to rural areas. The aim of this study is to examine the demographic characteristics and economic and cultural resources that have the greatest influence on a tertiary educated individual of rural origin returning to a rural area after higher education. Gender-divided binary logistic regression is used to examine the influence of an individual's social space position (i.e. their economic and cultural resources and demographic background) on returning to rural areas. Through the use of Bourdieu's concept 'social space', this paper contributes an alternative perspective to the study of students' destinations after higher education, which has been dominated by economic perspectives. The results indicate that while there are social space characteristics common to men and women that increase their probability of a rural return, there are gender differences in the degree of influence of many of these characteristics.