Journal ArticleDOI
A question of autonomy: Bourdieu’s field approach and higher education policy
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The concept of field forms the centre of Pierre Bourdieu's relational sociology and the notion of autonomy is its keystone as mentioned in this paper, which enables higher education to be examined as a distinct and irreducible object of study.Abstract:
The concept of field forms the centre of Pierre Bourdieu’s relational sociology and the notion of ‘autonomy’ is its keystone. This article explores the usefulness of these underexamined concepts for studying policy in higher education. It begins by showing how Bourdieu’s ‘field’ approach enables higher education to be examined as a distinct and irreducible object of study. It then explores the value and limitations of this conceptualization through analyses of policy during two contrasting moments of transition in the same field. First, the insights offered by a field approach are illustrated by analysing the new student debate over the creation of new universities in early 1960s English higher education. This shows how the field’s relatively high autonomy shaped the focus and form of policy debates by refracting economic and political pressures into specifically educational issues. Second, considering contemporary changes in policy highlights how the erosion of the social compact underpinning higher educ...read more
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Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students' technology experiences
Sue Bennett,Karl Maton +1 more
TL;DR: Key issues for educational researchers are identified, new ways of conceptualizing key ideas using theoretical constructs from Castells, Bourdieu and Bernstein are offered, and a case is made for how to develop the debate in order to advance understanding is made.
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Slaying the Seven-Headed Dragon: The Quest for Gender Change in Academia
TL;DR: In this article, a multi-level distinction between gender inequality practices and gender equality practices is proposed to come to better understanding of the slow pace of gender change in academia, and they argue that gender inequality is ineffectively countered by gender equality because the latter lack teeth, especially in traditional masculine academic environments.
Globalising policy sociology in education: working with Bourdieu
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use Bourdieu's concept of social field to develop theorising about policy processes in education and to extend the policy cycle approach in a time of globalisation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Globalizing policy sociology in education: working with Bourdieu
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use Bourdieu's concept of social fields to develop theories about policy processes in education and to extend the policy cycle approach in a time of globalization, and they argue that the concept can be and indeed has to be, stretched beyond the nation to take account of the emergent global policy field in education.
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Forms of knowing and academic development practice
TL;DR: The authors argue that much of the writing by academic developers has a rhetorical function in legitimising academic development and argue that academic development practice is a form of artistry and a concrete science.
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The entrepreneurial researcher: Re-formations of identity in the research marketplace
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the nature and impact of managerialism on higher education with particular reference to research and propose an agenda to promote reflexivity both in the style of presentation and in the focus on research and managerialism in higher education.