Louise Archer

Younger academics’ constructions of ‘authenticity’, ‘success’ and professional identity

This article contributes to ongoing work that seeks to understand the nature and formation of contemporary academic identities. Drawing on interview data conducted with a sample of ‘younger’ academics within UK universities, it considers how they position themselves (and in turn experience being positioned) in relation to notions of ‘authenticity’ and ‘success’. It is argued that younger academics’ experiences of inauthenticity are exacerbated by: (a) the current dominant performative ethos, (b) their age, (c) race, class, gender, and (d) status – but especially for those who are contract researchers. In particular, it is argued that the extent to which they are able to perform ‘success’ is shaped and constrained by structural locations of ‘race’/ethnicity, social class, gender and age. Consideration is given to the younger academics’ various attempts to position themselves as ‘authentic’, and their negotiations of this contested discursive terrain. It is suggested that the ‘authentic’ and ‘successful’ academic is a desired yet refused identity for many younger academics, who must negotiate on a daily basis not only their attempts at ‘becoming’ but also the threat of ‘unbecoming’.

The new neoliberal subjects? Young/er academics’ constructions of professional identity

There is a growing literature discussing the experiences and identities of academics working within the ‘new times’ of contemporary academia. Critiques have been levied at the impact of neoliberalism on the nature, organisation and purpose of higher education (HE), highlighting the negative consequences for ‘traditional’ academic identities and practices, and calls have been made for further investigation of the ‘lived’ experiences of academic workers. Most studies to date have focused on ‘older’ (mature) academics and their responses to the new performativity. But what about the ‘new’ generation of academics who have only experienced the current HE context and climate? This article focuses on the identities and experiences of ‘younger’ UK academic staff—notably, those aged 35 and under who grew up during the 1980s (so‐called Thatcher’s children). It discusses their constructions of academic identities and questions whether they are the archetypal new subjects of audit and managerialism whose capacity for criticality is forestalled—or whether they carve out spaces for thinking otherwise? Attention is drawn to the ways in which these younger academics negotiate the pressures of contemporary academia, detailing their strategies of resistance and practices of protection. The article concludes by reflecting on whether it is possible (or not), to do without being an academic neoliberal subject.

Science Aspirations, Capital, and Family Habitus: How Families Shape Children’s Engagement and Identification With Science

Low participation rates in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) post-16 are a matter of international concern. Existing evidence suggests children’s science aspirations are largely formed within the critical 10 to 14 age period. This article reports on survey data from over 9,000 elementary school children in England (age 10/11) and qualitative data from 160 semi-structured interviews (92 children aged 10/11 and 78 parents), collected as part of an ongoing 5-year longitudinal study in the United Kingdom tracking children from 10 to 14. Drawing on the conceptual framework of Bourdieu, the article explores how the interplay of family habitus and capital can make science aspirations more “thinkable” for some (notably middle-class) children than others. It is argued that while family habitus is not deterministic (there is no straightforward alignment between family habitus, capital, and a child’s science aspirations), social inequalities in the distribution of capital and differentially classed family habitus combine to produce uneven (classed, racialized) patterns in children’s science aspirations and potential future participation.

Diversity, Equality and Higher Education: A Critical Reflection on the Ab/uses of Equity Discourse within Widening Participation.

This paper discusses how the rhetoric of ‘diversity’ is mobilised within New Labour HE policy discourse around widening participation (WP). The paper argues that these constructions of diversity derive an important element of their symbolic power from an association with notions of ‘equality’—and yet the radical/egalitarian potential of WP policy and practice is subverted and compromised by New Labours pursuit of neoliberalism—to the extent that WP is rendered more a tool for social control than social justice. The paper is organised in two main parts: the first considers New Labours promotion of ‘institutional diversity’—and how this is tied to ‘choice’. The second part discusses how ‘student diversity’ is being discursively mobilised within the context of ‘equality’ and ‘social inclusion’. It is argued that this common-sense linkage (between ‘equality’ and ‘diversity’) is conceptually untenable within New Labour policy and practice due to a privileging of the economic, the pursuit of institutional diversity, and the use of the market within higher education. It is argued that a diversity of students in HE cannot be taken as an indicator of greater ‘equality’ within the system, and attention is drawn to the ways in which ‘diversity’ may operate as a moral discourse that silences other competing (e.g., critical) accounts of WP.

'Knowing their limits'? Identities, inequalities and inner city school leavers' post-16 aspirations

This paper draws upon data collected from 20 working class, inner city pupils in a British (London) school (in Year 11, aged 15/16 years) as part of a research study exploring the ways in which young people understand their options and identities. Pilot study data is used to develop an analysis of the processes through which inner city, working class young people come to leave school at the age of 16. Attention is drawn to issues of identity and inequality within processes of leaving education. In particular, we highlight the ways in which the young people viewed themselves as ‘not good enough’ and ‘knew their limits’ in relation to post-compulsory educational routes. It is suggested that these views were constructed and compounded by complex social and institutional factors, and were exacerbated by educational policies that impact upon inner city ‘failing’ schools and disadvantaged communities.

British–Chinese pupils' and parents' constructions of the value of education

The high achievement of British–Chinese pupils in the British education system is established in the official literature, but few studies have asked British–Chinese pupils or parents about the factors contributing to their success. This paper explores value of education as a possible contributory aspect. It investigates the extent to which British–Chinese pupils and their parents value education, and the rationale behind their constructions in this regard. Cultural issues in the transmission of values are also explored. The findings demonstrate that British–Chinese pupils and their parents place an extremely high value on education, irrespective of social class and gender. However, pupils and parents do not necessarily provide the same explanations for this value. There is evidence, though, that the discourse of ‘value of education’ is mobilised as part of a cultural construction of racialised boundaries relating to the diasporic habitus of the Chinese in Britain. The paper discusses the benefits, costs a...

Challenging classes? : Exploring the role of social class within the identities and achievement of British Chinese pupils

British Chinese identities remain under-theorized within sociology and the sociology of education – and yet they offer a potentially interesting angle to debates around the (re)production of privileges/inequalities given the growing phenomenon of Chinese educational ‘success’. British Chinese pupils’ educational success is especially interesting given the ‘working-class’ positionings of many Chinese families in Britain. In this article we explore the utility of Bourdieuian-influenced theories of social class as a lens through which to examine the identities, educational experiences and achievement of British Chinese pupils. In so doing, we aim to extend existing class theories through a more detailed consideration of the racialized context of class. We suggest that British Chinese families can be read as employing particular forms of family capital (cultural, social and economic), together with a diasporic discourse of ‘Chinese valuing of education’, to promote educational achievement. However, structural inequalities/injustices remain key concerns.

Working-class Men's Constructions of Masculinity and Negotiations of (Non)Participation in Higher Education

This article draws on discussion group data collected with 64 ethnically diverse working-class men who were predominantly not participating, or planning to participate, in higher education. The article identifies how the men drew on various discourses of masculinity in their arguments for and against higher education participation, and discusses potential implications of these discourses upon working-class mens continued underrepresentation in higher education. Analysis also highlights how the mens various constructions were framed/constrained by their locations within multiple, interlocking systems of inequality. Questions are raised with regard to future widening participation initiatives.

Spheres of influence: what shapes young people’s aspirations at age 12/13 and what are the implications for education policy?

Young people’s aspirations remain an enduring focus of education policy interest and concern. Drawing on data from an ongoing five-year study of young people’s science and career aspirations (age 10–14), this paper asks what do young people aspire to at age 12/13, and what influences these aspirations? It outlines the main aspirations and sources of these aspirations as expressed by young people in England in the last year of primary school (survey of 9000+ Y6 pupils, aged 10/11, interviews with 92 children and 76 parents) and the second year of secondary school (survey of 5600+ Y8 pupils, aged 12/13, interviews with 85 pupils). We demonstrate how aspirations are shaped by structural forces (e.g. social class, gender and ethnicity) and how different spheres of influence (home/family, school, hobbies/leisure activities and TV) appear to shape different types of aspirations. The paper concludes by considering the implications for educational policy and careers education.

‘They never go off the rails like other ethnic groups’: teachers’ constructions of British Chinese pupils’ gender identities and approaches to learning

This paper examines the ways in which British Chinese pupils are positioned and represented within the popular/dominant discourse of teachers working in London schools. Drawing on individual interviews from a study conducted with 30 teachers, 80 British Chinese pupils and 30Chinese parents, we explore some of the racialised, gendered and classed assumptions upon which dominant discourses around British Chinese boys and girls are based. Consideration is given, for example, to teachers’ dichotomous constructions of British Chinese masculinity, in which British Chinese boys were regarded as ‘naturally’ ‘good’ and ‘not laddish’, compared with a minority of ‘bad’ British Chinese boys, whose laddishness was attributed to membership of a multiethnic peer group. We also explore teachers’ constructions of British Chinese femininity, which centred around remarkably homogenised representations of British Chinese girls as ‘passive’ and quiet, ‘repressed’, hard‐working pupils. The paper discusses a range of alternative readings that challenge popular monolithic and homogenising accounts of British Chinese masculinity and femininity in order to open up more critical ways of representing and engaging with British Chinese educational ‘achievement’.