Tracksuits, Stereotypes, and the Uni Experience: Michael’s Story of Chav Culture in Higher Education

At the Anti-Stigma Network, we’re always looking to challenge assumptions and amplify voices. So, I was keen to chat with Michael who has just finished his degree from Northumbria University.

Now back home in Stockton, Michael is preparing for his career. He wrote his dissertation on something deeply personal: the experience of chav culture in higher education. His research, rooted in his and his friend’s lived experience, explores how stereotypes around class, clothing, and substance use shape student life—and how they can impact future opportunities.

“You Look Like a Sniff-Head”

Michael begins by taking about a typical Tuesday night out in Newcastle’s student clubs. But for him and his friends, nights out weren’t just about fun—they were about navigating suspicion from bouncers.

“In Uni people some people do drugs. When you go out on a Tuesday night you see lots of the student societies, the rugby and football societies, they’re dressed in chinos or fancy dress and they don’t look like they take drugs, but the participants in my research are the ones that get followed around and suspected for drugs use”

The assumptions didn’t stop at the club doors. In study groups, Michael experienced comments like “you look like a drug dealer” or “you look like a sniff-head.”

Michael explains, “There is an image of what a drug addict looks like, around the town centre, homeless, but also with cocaine there is an image of looking like a chav in skinny jeans. At home with my friend how you dress doesn’t suggest anything, but at Uni people think you look up to no good”  

The Pressure to Fit In

I ask Michael if he feels there is a pressure to conform with the typical style of clothing at Uni so that you avoid those judgments.

“I would come into town in a tracksuit and felt like I didn’t fit in. So, I did used to wear different things, but I should be able to wear what I want for a 1-hour lecture. Some of my friends will go out and I guess it looks scary to some people, my friends are just normal guys but there’s an image people will have of criminals, so I have thought I might need to disassociate with that”

The Risk of Being Misunderstood

I ask Michael if he feel that there is a risk to his future career from the mistaken perceptions of chav culture?

“When I went for a job interview, I didn’t want to tell people what I was doing for my dissertation, because of the riots in the summer the word chav got thrown around and added to the stereotype of chav’s being unintelligent. When you see people in the riots, they were always drinking cans of lager”

The stigma runs deep—and it’s not just about fashion. It’s about class, culture, and who gets to feel like they belong.

Bridging Two Worlds

In his first year, Michael lived with flatmates from different backgrounds and found more common ground with people he met in lectures. “One friend of mine jokes about me being a bit of a chav,” he says. But there were places he simply avoided.

“It’s a difficult one. There are certain pubs around the Uni I just wouldn’t go in now. In the past when you go in you see people sneering. The first time I went into social places like bars, I would be in a tracksuit, and everyone is looking and I remember people sneering and laughing, and I realised it’s because of what they must think…. I was not wanted in their places”.

“So, we’d choose to go to the Spoons closer to the train station, rather than the one closer to the Uni”

Even student bars had dress codes that would make him feel unwelcome. “I wasn’t allowed in wearing a tracksuit or my cap, but other people would be allowed in in fancy dress”

By his third year, Michael was commuting from home. That shift gave him a new perspective.

“In the last year I’ve realised there is a lot more people that commute in, that are more likely to dress like we do, not like a typical student. People who live in student accommodation have a fixed look, like charity shop, retro, vintage clothes. Baggy jeans are big thing and with chav culture in Middlesbrough and Stockton you would get laughed out of a pub wearing that sort of thing. The brands are different, they wear gillets, like a farmer’s jacket”

Would He Recommend Uni?

“I don’t think I would encourage my kids to go to university, I got in through clearing, I was aiming to get an apprentice programme which fell through. Uni isn’t a typical thing around here, last 3 years I’ve understood how people who engage with chav culture don’t fit in with it at all, it’s not the norm, it’s not ingrained in your life.”  

The chat with Michael leads me to think that Universities need to rethink how they engage with working-class communities.  as he explains “The narrative of education needs to change. My friends would never go to uni—it’s alien to them. I didn’t even know there were two universities in Newcastle. It was a massive culture shock.”

A Degree—and a New Perspective

Despite the challenges, Michael is rightly proud of what he’s achieved. His dissertation weaves together personal stories and sociological theory to unpack the stigma surrounding chav culture in higher education.

“Because I’m interested in inequality and politics, I can see how structural disadvantages create stigma. Universities are built for middle-class people. But I’m glad I got the degree—it’s made me interested in academia.”

Whether you wear a tracksuit or a farmer’s jacket, your clothes shouldn’t define your perceived worth. But as this story shows, we have a long way to go before that is a reality.

At the request of the contributor, we use the name ‘Michael’ to protect his privacy