Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives often constitute large and firmly instituted workplans within universities globally, particularly in the ‘West’ (Ahmed, 2012). However, the discrimination and sense of exclusion working-class students and staff face as a result of classism and elitism are rarely discussed and confronted explicitly (Walkerdine, 2021). Issues of class are often subsumed within a ‘widening participation agenda’ informed by the neoliberal assumptions of social mobility. But as Reay notes, a widening participation agenda that is adequately based on social justice concerns ‘requires much more than the movement of a few individuals up and down an increasingly inequitable social system’ (Reay, 2013, p. 661). In this paper, I use a psychosocial affective-discursive approach (Wetherell, 2012) to explore the relative silence on issues of social class in diversity and equity policy making, and its impacts in the everyday, particularly with regards to feelings of belonging in the academe. How and from where do feelings of being ‘out of place’ emerge, and in conjunction with what affective, classed ideologies? Using narratives of students and early career researchers enrolled in postgraduate studies in Australia, accumulated and embodied knowledges of classed personhood are examined. Data are drawn from repeat, biographical interviews, produced with participants identifying as women from working-class or low-socioeconomic backgrounds. I explore subjective, embodied and experiential aspects of ‘doing class’, outlining some of the barriers that participants face in gaining a sense of belonging at university. As a result of subtle and unintended forms of classism, I show how participants feel compelled to hide their working-classness, and experience a sense of loss at being mis-classed. I advance an agenda for greater inclusion of issues of classism—both overt and subtle—in university equity, diversity and inclusion work, applicable to a wide range of country contexts.

Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Duke University Press. Reay, D. (2013). Social mobility, a panacea for austere times: tales of emperors, frogs, and tadpoles. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(5–6), 660–677. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2013.816035 Walkerdine, V. (2021). What’s class got to do with it? Discourse, 42(1), 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1767939 Wetherell, M. (2012). Affect and emotion: A new social science understanding. Sage Publications.