Young Muslims' Experiences of Islamophobia, Education and Social Mobility

Increasing socioeconomic inequalities continue to be a major public concern in the United
Kingdom. British Muslims, almost 5% of the UK population, are the most disadvantaged
faith group in the labour market. Despite having a presence in Britain as far back as the
19th century, the Muslim community has long faced prejudice rooted in Orientalism -
with the media playing a significant role in this Orientalist framing. Young Muslims are at
a high risk of downward social mobility if the barriers that prevent them from gaining
better qualifications are not addressed.
The proposed study will examine the grounded experiences and perceptions of a
diversified sample of British Muslim students, investigating to what extent and in what
ways Islamophobia is experienced as a barrier. A corpus of journalistic texts from a
diversified sample of British news sources will also be examined to determine the media
representations and framings of British Muslim students and of Islamophobia at school.
Through the lenses of Orientalism, epistemic injustice and Critical Race Theory, this study
will fill the gap in available literature by focusing specifically on how Islamophobia at
school impacts the pursuit of higher education among young British Muslims.