Celia Jenkins

The troubling concept of class: reflecting on our ‘failure’ to encourage sociology students to re-cognise their classed locations using autobiographical methods

Abstract This paper provides a narrative of the four authors’ commitment to auto/biographical methods as teachers and researchers in ‘new’ universities. As they went about their work, they observed that, whereas students engage with the gendered, sexualised and racialised processes when negotiating their identities, they are reluctant or unable to conceptualise ‘class-ifying’ processes as key determinants of their life chances. This general inability puzzled the authors, given the students’ predominantly working-class backgrounds. Through application of their own stories, the authors explore the sociological significance of this pedagogical ‘failure’ to account for the troubling concept of class not only in the classroom but also in contemporary society.

From a ‘sort of Muslim’ to ‘proud to be Alevi’: The Alevi Religion and Identity Project combatting the negative identity among second-generation Alevis in the UK

ABSTRACT This article explains how the negative identity of second-generation Alevi-Kurds in the UK has been transmitted intergenerationally, linked to their history of persecuted exclusion in Turkey and to the transnational settlement of Alevi migrants in the UK, and how this sense of marginalization and invisibility in the receiving country can be addressed. Education is identified as a starting point for the underachievement and disaffection of Alevi pupils, which can lead them into more serious trouble and descent into the rainbow underclass. In the quest to tackle this identity issue, a unique collaborative action research project was set up between an Alevi community centre, local schools and a university to develop the world’s first Alevi lessons as part of the compulsory Religious Education curriculum in British schools. The Alevi Religion and Identity Project is described and evaluated in terms of its outcomes, especially its contribution towards a more positive Alevi identity as a reflection of a vibrant community.

Women in the driving seat: Eastern European immigrant women's citizenship, participation and educational inclusion in Portugal

This paper is a case study of Eastern European immigrant womens social inclusion in Portugal through civic participation. An analysis of interviews conducted with women leaders and members of two ethnic associations provides a unique insight into their migrant pathways as highly educated women and the ways in which these women are constructing their citizenship in new contexts in Northern Portugal. These womens accounts of their immigrant experience embrace both the public realm, in using their own education and their childrens as a means of integration but also spill over into ‘non-public’ familial relationships at home in contradictory ways. These include the sometimes traditional, gender-defined division of labour within the associations and at home and the new ways that they negotiate their relative autonomies to escape forms of violence and subordination that they face as women and immigrants.

Conducting an Exploratory Survey of a Little Researched Marginalised Transnational Migrant Community

This chapter concerns an exploratory survey conducted both in Turkey and the UK to find out more about the little researched contemporary lives of the relatively marginalised transnational Alevi community. By conducting the survey in both countries the aim was to describe the lives of Alevis in each, as well as to compare those who migrate with those who stay in Turkey. The main themes of the survey were demographic characteristics, family life, migration, identity, social activities and transnational connections. The case focuses on the challenges experienced in designing one survey to describe a transnational community which could be used in both Turkey and the UK. These include issues of questionnaire design, the best method of administering the survey, and how to access participants, particularly when they are suspicious of your motives, as well as the ethical, political, technical and practical issues to be faced at all stages of the research process and required of a successful survey. The chapter describes the issues arising at different stages of the research and the technical difficulties resulting from using Turkish and English language versions of the survey. It also reflects on the expectation gap between what the community imagined a survey on Alevis would cover and its actual content. Through presenting this research and the challenges we faced we hope students will better understand the complexities of doing surveys and can avoid some of the pitfalls associated with research on transnational migrant communities.

Sociological Knowledge and Transformation

‘Diversity University’ is a large university in London, UK, which appears in the bottom third of national league tables and provides education for poorer students, often from ethnic minority groups. The Sociology Department at Diversity was the focus of research exploring quality and inequality in undergraduate degrees and here, with concrete examples, we discuss how its curriculum and pedagogy can be conceptualized as socially just. Concepts drawn from the work of the sociologist of education Basil Bernstein are employed to justify challenging students to make the necessary effort to bring difficult, abstract sociological knowledge into juxtaposition with everyday problems of life and society. In this way, tutors offer a quality of education that is equivalent to any in high-status universities and, by way of knowledge acquisition, support relatively disadvantaged students to access what Bernstein calls ‘pedagogic rights’ to individual enhancement, social inclusion, and political participation.

Sociological Knowledge and Transformation at ‘Diversity University’, UK

This chapter is based on a case study of one UK university sociology department and shows how sociology knowledge can transform the lives of ‘non-traditional’ students. The research from which the case is drawn focused on four departments teaching sociology-related subjects in universities positioned differently in UK league tables. It explored the question of the relationship between university reputation, pedagogic quality and curriculum knowledge, challenging taken-for-granted judgements about ‘quality’ and in conceptualising ‘just’ university pedagogy by taking Basil Bernstein’s ideas about how ‘powerful’ knowledge is distributed in society to illuminate pedagogy and curriculum. The project took the view that ‘power’ lies in the acquisition of specific (inter)disciplinary knowledges which allows the formation of disciplinary identities by way of developing the means to think about and act in the world in specific ways. We chose to focus on sociology because (1) university sociology is taken up by all socio-economic classes in the UK and is increasingly taught in courses in which the discipline is applied to practice; (2) it is a discipline that historically pursues social and moral ambition which assists exploration of the contribution of pedagogic quality to individuals and society beyond economic goals; (3) the researchers teach and research sociology or sociology of education - an understanding of the subjects under discussion is essential to make judgements about quality. ‘Diversity’ was one of four case study universities. It ranks low in university league tables; is located in a large, multi-cultural English inner city; and, its students are likely to come from lower socio-economic and/or ethnic minority groups, as well as being the first in their families to attend university. To make a case for transformative teaching at Diversity, the chapter draws on longitudinal interviews with students, interviews with tutors, curriculum documents, recordings of teaching, examples of student work, and a survey. It establishes what we can learn from the case of sociology at Diversity, arguing that equality, quality and transformation for individuals and society are served by a university curriculum which is research led and challenging combined with pedagogical practices which give access to difficult-to-acquire and powerful knowledge.