Why do people from poorer backgrounds have low aspirations

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I may not be explaining myself well here so please bear with me!

I've seen on here a few times where it's been mentioned that people from poorer backgrounds / deprived areas don't have higher aspirations. It seems they can do better but don't.

Just wondering why this is and what would help to change it.

Reason I'm asking is I'm from a por background and I still am. I don't want this for my kids but don't know how or what to do to change it.

Growing up in a poorish area, near to genuinely deprived areas, and where people had extended family living very close by, as in within a street or two, there was a very insular attitude. School didn't help, as in secondary school, certainly by the start of GCSEs, the majority of children from the poorer area seemed to be written off as just going to end up working in the local factory or supermarket - perhaps the girls could do childcare or a beauty course at the local college - so why bother.

You could tell where someone lived by whether they did A Levels or either left at 16 or did a vocational qualification.

And of course the children themselves were quick to bring anyone down who showed any aspiration.

This is just a guess and I may be wrong, but from my experience, it's amix of factors including

Some want easy £ with not much effort
It's party's, drugs, sex,
Basically they see putting effort in to achieve qualifications, learn knowledge, better oneself, as basically to much effort, when compared to them watching daytime TV, or smoking weed, doing drugs, or partying ect

Growing up I struggled career wise as I was simply not aware of what high paying jobs there were and had even less of an idea of how to get into them.
I was a high achiever, but thought an office job paying low 20k was decent. My parents discouraged me from applying for medicine as the poor working hours.
The concept of moving away or even commuting daily from the small village where I grew up was seen as a waste of petrol and so opportunities were very limited. Driving 30minutes was seen as extravagant, even if it meant being severely limited with a choice of real jobs.
My mum encouraged me to some extent and said that “I could do anything I want”, but then gave no practical advice or assistance to achieve it (mainly because they didn’t know themselves).

Lack of a safety net to take risks is a big factor imo.

I should also say. Read read read. Powerful stories. Biographies of inspirational people. And make sure they keep reading as they get older

I just think that poor kids see through the bullshit we tell ourselves about being a meritocracy. Inequality is a lived reality of being excluded and marginalised every day. The terrace houses by my kids school cost £1million +. But the school also hosts a food bank. The kids know exactly the differences between them.

The solution isn't (just) helping poor kids to raise their aspirations, it's about reducing inequality in the first place. To do that we'd need to grapple with some politically unpalatable policies - taxing assets for example, sorting out construction. Good luck when there's a housing corp donation pipeline into the conservatives.

@Hawkins001

This is just a guess and I may be wrong, but from my experience, it's amix of factors including

Some want easy £ with not much effort
It's party's, drugs, sex,
Basically they see putting effort in to achieve qualifications, learn knowledge, better oneself, as basically to much effort, when compared to them watching daytime TV, or smoking weed, doing drugs, or partying ect

Well absolutely - you'd never see the upper classes involved in parties, drugs or sex.

They come from families with no aspirations who are happy as long as they have tele and cups of tea. There is also a great deal of 'working class pride' and 'not for the likes of us' mentality.

This can be the case in a rich or poor family but sometimes it's a case of not really knowing what jobs are out there. If you don't know anyone that does whatever job, it doesn't seem like you could get that job. Or you might not even know it exists, or know much about it.

I only knew a very limited range of jobs existed, mostly public sector as that’s what my parents and most of their friends did. I had no idea the type of job and the companies I work with now existed. My father was a teacher and I went to a grammar school so I was encouraged to be whatever I wanted to be but I just didn’t know loads of options existed or how to access them. I don’t come from a poor background (I’d say lower MC) but I imagine that the challenge is amplified when parents are unable to offer any financial support for instance.

Peer group. If your mates are going to uni to become lawyers or bankers, that's what you'll expect to do. It takes a strong person to see beyond the immediate circle and buck the trend.

If you don't know people with professional jobs you can't imagine what skills you need to get into these roles.

There are initiatives to help greater access but it requires the young adult to participate and they need confidence to do that which starts early on in life. From primary aged.

Highlight role models who started from poor backgrounds, talk about university as exciting and realistic prospect for them. Encourage the love of reading and learning. Discuss job roles and tell them it's all possible for them.

They come from families with no aspirations who are happy as long as they have tele and cups of tea.

Do people really think this?

Dreams crushed in childhood
Ambitions not supported
Replicate cycle

Many children get a full time job as soon as they can to support their families I guess. There was a lot of awareness following the 2012 Olympics that most GB competitors had been private schooled and had more access to good sport facilities.

Social mobility is at an all time low, increasingly the most neglected backgrounds are white working class boys.

Lack of cultural social and financial capital...and not knowing the rules of the game.

You are highly unlikely to get a job at a top law firm paying 1.5m a year if you grow up in a deprived area & went to a bad school.

There are sadly many and varied reasons why poorer children dont get on so well.Often (not always obv!) from chaotic backgrounds ,live in poorer areas where crime is rife and so on. Obv some children do break out though .All anyone can do is their best and encourage them ,trips to the Library .museums and so on.

Others have given good answers.

Start with yourself.
You didn't mention your age or your children's ages but you are their role model.

Do research on jobs that are high paying.
Hint: technology

Enroll in a degree program for that.
Turn the tv off more. Read a lot more.

Bring your child to work days are going to be very different in lower socioeconomic areas.
I knew professionals existed and became one but had no idea about business and neither did anyone else I knew.
My dc understand there is a huge range of potential careers, we have the money to support them to intern, the connections to find places for them. It is a type of soft power.

£30,000 Uni debt is pennies to some rich families, to poor families it’s a house deposit and a car.

It’s about perspective.

University should be free for the brightest kids whatever their background.

BUT what is 'success'? I agree with many of the posts on here but surely we should be teaching (maybe alongside) how to be happy, kind, contented etc. A lot of what is wrong is caused by this 'dream' that everyone can rise to the top; that you can have whatever you want if you can just make enough money, etc.; that if you just 'aspire' and 'work hard' you will achieve nirvana...
A few years ago I did a job performing surveys in people's homes. One of the surveys was very general. What became apparent to me was how many of the people with 'normal' 'dead-end' jobs were satisfied, had very low stress levels and lovely families. A lot had managed to buy their own small house but some rented. They didn't have anything fancy but enough to have what they needed. But their satisfaction levels were the highest... taught me a lot.

Upper middles classes like to perpetuate the myth that working class children aren't as ambitious as their children so they don't feel bad about the structural inequality they are complicit in.

@Drunkpanda

But the difference I'd say, is they actually make the effort to try and better their knowledge, their hobbies, their professional aspirations, and have a good broad outlook and experience.

Some of the people I know would take one look at learning a topic or watching a documentary, and instead straight to Jerry Springer instead ect