Class Rules, Status Dynamics, and Gateway Interactions

In this chapter, the authors investigate class interactions at the interpersonal level and consider implications of these interactions for systematic group outcomes. Their focus is on "gateway" interactions—those involving people from different class backgrounds that are critical for class mobility. They reveal how these gateway interactions are molded by cultural capital and status assumptions, often leaving those from lower-class backgrounds in an imbalanced situation that is uncomfortable and disadvantageous.