Christina Hughes

Key concepts in feminist theory and research

Introduction Not Talking about the Same Thing: Introducing Conceptual Literacy Concepts Meanings, Games and Contests Equality Difference Choice Care Time Experience Developing Conceptual Literacy

The Myth of the Learning Society

Abstract The learning society has been advocated as an answer to current economic, political and social problems by a wide coalition of interests, including politicians, employers and educators. Here we critically analyse the concept as a myth; that is, as an idea which may or may not have validity, but which many people believe in. For the purpose of this analysis, the learning society is set alongside four other myths upon which it builds: those of productivity, change, lifelong education and the learning organisation. It is argued that the United Kingdom cannot currently be considered to be a learning society, nor is it likely to become one in the foreseeable future. But the idea of the learning society retains an important role as a myth, in drawing together and channelling energies in directions sought by policy‐makers.

Writing on academic careers

ABSTRACT During the last two decades the higher education system in the UK has moved from an elite to a mass orientation, while academic careers have become less secure and more demanding, and a greater accountability has been imposed upon the system. In the light of these changes, it is appropriate to ask what is known about the nature of academic work. For the purposes of this article, academic work has been conceptualised as involving one or more of five overlapping roles: the commonplace triumvirate of teaching, research and managing, plus writing and networking. The existing literature on each of these roles, and on academic careers in general is reviewed. At the time of writing, there was no single comprehensive text available on academic work in the UK. While much has been written in recent years on the teaching role (and, to a lesser extent, on managing) relatively little of a cross-disciplinary nature appears to have been written on academic researching, writing or networking. The future developm...

Women's Contemporary Lives : Within and Beyond the Mirror

Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Gazing in the Mirror 2. Women Have Made It 3. The Best of Both Worlds 4. Women Are Caring 5. Having It All 6. Doing It All 7. Within and Beyond the Mirror

Re-turning feminist methodologies: from a social to an ecological epistemology

This paper proposes an ecological methodology in order to re-think the concept of situatedness in ways that can take into account that we live in relation to, and are of, a more-and-other-than-human world. In doing so, the paper proposes that situatedness should be understood in terms of processes of co-invention that, fractally and recursively, open onto other co-inventions that include the non-human. The paper illustrates this through the concept of patterning. It advances a number of terms – cutting, knotting, contrasting, figuring – as potential practices that can be drawn on to provide analyses of dynamic and multiple relations that cross the boundaries between human and non-human forces.

The Ever‐changing World of Further Education: a case for research

ABSTRACT Further education, the focus of much recent policy interest and development, is frequently characterised by insiders as ‘ever changing’. Yet, it remains grossly under‐researched and, hence, little understood by outsiders, whether they be academics, employers, policy‐makers or members of the general public. The bulk of the limited literature available on further education remains descriptive, policy‐orientated and focused on single institutions. Critical, analytical, theoretical and comparative studies are few and far between. Such studies are necessary in order to both understand and aid policy development in such a critically important sector. This paper examines and categorises the existing literature, and suggests areas for future research.

The metaphors we study by: the doctorate as a journey and/or as work

The ‘journey’ metaphor has come to the fore as a way of conveying the students experience of change, difficulty and progress in doctoral studies. The use of this metaphor is critically assessed through the application of a classic journey tale, John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress, as a parallel to the doctoral process. An alternative case is then presented for considering the doctorate as a form of work, while recognising that work, in this context, is also a metaphor. There are, however, different kinds of work and thus different kinds of doctorate. Here, rather than pursuing the contemporary distinction made between ‘traditional’ and professional doctorates, it is argued that it is important to understand the doctoral student experience as multi-faceted and complex, with many variants, indicating the relevance of a range of metaphorical descriptions.

Feminists really do count: the complexity of feminist methodologies

We are delighted to be presenting this special issue on the topic of feminism and quantitative methods. We believe that such an issue is exceptionally timely. This is not simply because of ongoing debates around quantification within the field of feminism and women‟s studies. It is also because of debates within the wider research community about the development of appropriate methodologies that take account of new technological and philosophical concerns and are fit-for-purpose for researching contemporary social, philosophical, cultural and global issues. Two areas serve as exemplars in this respect and both speak to these combined wider social science and specifically feminist methodological concerns. The first is the increasing concern amongst social scientists with how the complexity of social life can be captured and analysed. Within feminism, this can be seen in debates about intersectionality that recognise the concerns arising from multiple social positions/divisions and associated power issues. As Denis (2008: 688) comments in respect of intersectional analysis „The challenge of integrating multiple, concurrent, yet often contradictory social locations into analyses of power relations has been issued. Theorising to accomplish this end is evolving, and we are struggling to develop effective methodological tools in order to marry theorising with necessary complex analyses of empirical data.‟ Secondly, new techniques and new data sources are now coming on line. This includes work in the UK of the ESRC National Data Strategy which has been setting out the priorities for the development of research data resources both within and across the boundaries of the social sciences. This will facilitate historical, longitudinal, interdisciplinary and mixed methodological research. And it may be the case that these developments facilitate the achievement of a longstanding feminist aim not simply for interdisciplinarity but for transdisciplinarity in epistemological and methodological terms.

Deconstructing dissemination: dissemination as qualitative research

This article offers a critique of dissemination models that are based on technical rationalist ontologies. We argue that such models privilege a particularly narrow set of meaning and in consequence preclude other ways through which we might imagine dissemination acts. Our article therefore seeks to deconstruct dissemination in order to illuminate the ethical, political and communicative issues that lie at the heart of dissemination practices and to offer a range of alternative ways that dissemination might be conceptualized. These issues are illustrated through a series of vignettes that are drawn from research in the fields of education, health and social care. These focus on the everyday features of qualitative research that are more usually discussed in relation to substantive issues of methodology rather than dissemination per se. These vignettes are designed to demonstrate how dissemination is present at the very moment of conceptualizing research and that it continues in ways we have yet to explore well after the formal stages of research are complete.

Telling it How it is: Accounts of Academic Life

Several kinds of account of what academic life is like are available. This article reviews three of these – academic novels, the professional media and ‘how to’ guides produced for academics – and makes some comparisons with the picture presented by academic research on higher education. These genres convey multiple, partial, diverse and competing accounts. Understanding their messages is interesting, useful and important to those interested in academic life.