LEARNING TO NOT LABOR: How Working-Class Individuals Construct Midd le-Class I dent i ties Pete r Ka u f m an State University of New York at New Paltz This article examines the micro-analytical strategies of identity formation among indi- viduals attempting to transform their ascribed social-class position into an achieved social-class position. The interpersonal strategies discussed include associational embracement, associational distancing, and presentations of self. Data come from forty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with college seniors (twenty men and twenty womcn) from a large northeastern public university. The students were sam- pled systematically using a randomized list provided by the Office of Institutional Research. Results suggest that social transformation is difficult, in part, because of the interpersonal strategies in which individuals must engage. Self-avowals arc not enough to achieve a desired social identity; rather, individuals must engage in the requisite identity-work activities in order to be successful in social transformation. These results suggest a convergence between social identity theory and identity the- ory to the extent that individuals must be successful in their role enactments if they hope to gain membership in a particular social group. In his landmark study of working-class youth in England, Paul Willis (1977) offered keen insight into the process through which working-class students, the “lads,” penetrate the dominant ideology and disqualify themselves from anything but working-class jobs Willis’s study is a benchmark for understanding the processes of social reproduction for the working class. Less understood, however, is the process through which the other group of working-class youth in Willis’s study, the “ear’oles,” rejects working-class cul- ture and engages in a transformative process to become middle class. How do the ear’oles become accepted members of the middle class? Is this just a de facto process achieved through self-declaration? Or must they actively embrace a particular sense of self and choose with whom they will align themselves? Must they wear any badges- figuratively or literally-that signify their identity to self and others? Do they use cer- tain language? Do they wear certain clothes? In short, what interpersonal strategies must these students engage in to climb the social ladder and become successful mem- bers of the middle class? Whilc therc is much written on social reproduction-the processes through which Direct all corrcspondence to Peter Kaufman. Department of Sociology, JFT 516, New Paltz, NY 12561: e-mail: kaufmanpm newpaltz.edu The Sociological Quarterly, Volume 44, Number 3, pages 481-504. Copyright 0 2003 by The Midwest Sociological Society. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center SL., Ste. 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223. ISSN 0038-0253; online ISSN 1533-8525