ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine conceptualisations of luck evoked by a select group of elite students studying in Oxbridge, when accounting for their academic success. The emphasis on luck in their narratives is categorised into three themes. The students linked their luckiness to deservedness, used luck as a way to express humbleness, and attributed their success to factors of chance. These themes are analysed against the backdrop of strong institutional support they receive as part of attending elite schools and being scholarship recipients. By being attentive to how luck is evoked in these narratives, we show that luck does not have an essential meaning and can produce different representations of legitimacy. The paper proposes the integration between critical and pragmatic sociological perspectives in order to advance our understandings of how elite groups qualify for the positions they obtain, how they define themselves and make sense of their educational merits.

摘要

在本文中，我们研究了在牛津剑桥学习的精英学生群体在考虑他们的学业成功时所唤起的运气概念。在他们的叙述中对运气的强调分为三个主题。学生们将自己的幸运与应得的联系起来，用幸运来表达谦虚，并将他们的成功归因于偶然因素。这些主题是在他们作为精英​​学校的一部分和奖学金获得者获得的强大机构支持的背景下进行分析的。通过关注这些叙述中如何唤起运气，我们表明运气没有本质意义，可以产生不同的合法性表示。