HOW SOCIAL BACKGROUND SHAPES OUR LIVES

YouTube premiere "From Kreisky's living room"

ELISABETH SCHARANG IN CONVERSATION WITH BETINA AUMAIR AND ESRA ÖZMEN
HOW SOCIAL BACKGROUND SHAPES OUR LIVES

 The fact that social advancement in Austria requires much more than performance is the subject of the book „Klassenreise." The social selection of the education system has long been statistically recorded. Only 15% from low-income families make it from the bottom to the top. But what does this advancement mean for people from (guest) labourer families? Alienation from their old social environment and classism in a new world that doesn't seem to have been made for them means that their sense of belonging is constantly being renegotiated. The journey into a middle-class milieu does not end with a formal educational qualification. A look at the portraits of the class travellers reveals that social capital is not acquired with a degree and how social advancement is shaped by gender, migration and urban-rural divides.

Elisabeth Scharang discusses with the author Betina Aumair and the rapper Esra Özmen about educational opportunities in Austria, what role chance plays for people from low-income households and what lies behind the myth of „advancement through achievement“.

Betina Aumair, Writing pedagogue, project manager and gender and diversity officer in adult education with a focus on adolescents and young adults
Esra Özmen, Rapper, visual artist, performer, songwriter, cultural worker, workshop leader in rap/singing/rhyming/lyrics.
Elisabeth Scharang, freelance filmmaker, screenwriter and journalist in Vienna