Research spotlight

For each half-term of the year, we showcase one piece of work from our faculty or research students.

From Research to Comic: Miro Born’s Exploration of Social Mobility

Together with illustrator Irem Kurt, Anthony Miro Born, ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Methodology, created a short comic on social mobility. We spoke to him about his approach to the project.

Miro, what inspired you to turn your research on social mobility into a comic?

For a long time, I’ve been interested in more creative ways of sharing research findings. A comic felt like an exciting format because it allows you to reach beyond academic circles and speak to people who might not usually read a journal article.

But perhaps more importantly, I wanted to do something that felt more open than a policy paper or report, where researchers are often expected to provide clear answers and implications. In contrast, I see the comic as a medium that creates space for reflection – something that, even if just for a few minutes, might encourage readers to think more critically about social mobility and its complexities. It was also an experiment in storytelling: a way to bring some of the voices, tensions, and contradictions I encountered during fieldwork to life in a form that’s both accessible and thought-provoking.

Can you tell us a bit about the research itself – what was the focus and what did you find?

The foundation and inspiration for this comic is research I conducted between 2019 and 2023, during my PhD at the Department of Sociology at LSE. I wanted to explore the ideal of social mobility in marginalised neighbourhoods from multiple perspectives. As part of the project, I conducted over 60 interviews with so-called upwardly mobile individuals, their family members, and long-term residents of stigmatised neighbourhoods in Germany. What emerged was a picture of ambivalence, contradiction, and complexity. In particular, I focus on the divisive moments of moving ‘up’ and ‘out’.

Social mobility doesn’t just open doors – it can divide neighbourhoods, communities, residents and family members by giving some people a ticket to move up, based on individual competition and achievement, while leaving others ‘behind’. It divides by classifying residents of marginalised neighbourhoods into distinct moral categories. It divides by shaping people’s sense of belonging and imposing demoralising and humiliating symbolic baggage on them. And, indeed, even among those on the supposed sunny side of the process, social mobility can leave a sense of internal division.

What did that format allow you to do that a traditional article wouldn’t?

The obvious answer is that it allows you to engage with a broader audience. But I think it goes beyond that. Thinking about your research through the comic format pushes you to reflect on how you portray people and places beyond words. For instance, when it comes to marginalised or stigmatised neighbourhoods, it raises important questions: What do you show? What do you leave out? With their word limits and formal tone, academic articles often struggle to convey the complexity of these places. But even a small comic like ours can offer space for more layered and nuanced narratives. Yes, there are serious challenges - housing shortages, social tensions, economic struggles. But these areas are also full of life: they’re people’s homes, places where you find solidarity, pride, and moments of care. A comic lets you find a tone that sits somewhere between stigmatising and romanticising.

But how did you approach turning complex ideas like social mobility into visual storytelling?

We centred the narrative around the comic’s main character, Elin, as a way of weaving together key themes and lived experiences of social mobility. Her story draws on recurring moments that came up in many of the interviews I conducted during the research. For instance, Elin’s sense of stigma about where she comes from, or the emotional tension she feels when returning home to visit her parents, are based on real conversations. At the same time, I felt it was important not to portray Elin’s experience as purely alienating or negative. There’s ambivalence, yes, but also moments of pride and warmth!

Elin is, of course, a fictional character, and some scenes are slightly heightened for narrative effect. But from what I’ve heard so far, many people who have experienced upward social mobility in marginalised neighbourhoods recognise aspects of their own journey in the story we tell.

What was the collaboration with the illustrator like throughout the project?

The collaboration with the illustrator, Irem Kurt, was one of the most exciting parts of the project. Right from the start, she was genuinely enthusiastic and really connected with the vision I had in mind. I brought the research, the themes, and a rough sense of the narrative – but translating that into visuals was like learning a completely new language. It was a constant back-and-forth throughout the process, especially as we were working within a limited number of pages. And I think Irem did an amazing job bringing my slightly bumpy narrative to life – after all, I’m a researcher, not a comic writer.

But it wasn’t just the two of us. The project really benefited from a wider network of support: friends and two former interviewees gave feedback on earlier drafts, Will helped with the translation from German to English, and the Reprographics team at LSE did a fantastic job producing a print version that I think looks brilliant. It truly was a collaborative effort – and that’s what I enjoyed most about the whole process.

What is the plan to do with the comic?

Originally, we imagined the comic with a specific focus on Year 12 and Year 13 students in schools. But early on, we decided that we wanted something that could appeal to a much wider audience – something that would be accessible and engaging for a range of readers. We wanted it to be short enough to be approachable, available in both English and German, and visually appealing, but still rich in detail and layered references for those who wanted to look a little closer.

We've now printed over 800 copies and are in contact with several foundations and charities in Germany and the UK who are interested in using it to stimulate more critical conversations about social mobility. A number of teachers have also expressed an interest in reading it with their students to open up discussions about class inequality, stigmatised neighbourhoods and social justice. At the same time, we have sent it out to sociologists and geographers to use as a teaching resource in university seminars. And beyond that, there are just lots of people – whether they've experienced upward mobility themselves, lived in such neighbourhoods for a long time, or are simply interested in the subject; who have told us they've found it a meaningful and thought-provoking read.

What do you hope people take away from this comic?

In public and political discourse, social justice is often equated with social mobility – as if promoting individual upward mobility is the primary way forward. The comic challenges that ideal by showing that the story is far more complex, both for those who ‘move up’ and for those often portrayed as having been ‘left behind’.

I hope readers come away with a more nuanced understanding of social mobility – both as a lived experience and as a political objective. In the end, we deliberately leave it open how the main character understands social mobility, inviting readers to pause and reflect on what it might mean for them too…

What’s next for you and this project?

I’m currently working on a longer methodological reflection on the process of creating and developing the comic; exploring what it means to publish 'beyond words' in the context of urban research, and what we can learn from more visual and narrative-driven approaches.

In addition, my book on social mobility, titled Social Ladders, is under contract with Oxford University Press and is hopefully due out next year. It’s less illustrated than the comic, of course, but it picks up many of the same themes and dives deeper into the complexities of social mobility and urban inequality from a sociological perspective.

Thank you, Miro.

Miro’s research on social mobility in marginalised neighbourhoods:

Born, A. M. (2024). The price of the ticket revised: Family members’ experiences of upward social mobility. The Sociological Review 72(2), 394-411.

Born, A. M. (2023). The long shadow of territorial stigma: Upward social mobility and the symbolic baggage of the old neighbourhood. Urban Studies 60(3), 537-553.