Programme full

Wednesday 15 April 2015 16:00 - 17:30
PAPER SESSION 3
eighteen months post graduation. We consider issues of gender and social class, and the development of identities in
an employment sector which one participant described as ‘reeking of masculinity’. We explore the development of
‘elite’ masculinities through upward social mobility for our working-class young men and through social
reproduction/embedding for their middle-class counterparts, drawing upon aspects of lived experiences, tastes and
practices. We aim to contribute to an understanding of how elite men are shaped within contemporary society, through
university experiences and employment transitions. We highlight ongoing classed and gendered inequalities within an
overall neo-liberal system which supports the development of elitist sensibilities and aspirations for competitive work in
industries of questionable ethics and dubious practices. We argue that highly aspirational young men are particularly
drawn to these industries as they valorize a hegemonic form of masculinity equating manhood with aggressively
achieved financial success. This work draws on a small subset of participants within the Paired Peers project, a
longitudinal qualitative study tracking 80 young people from different class backgrounds through and out of two
different types of university in one English city.
Making the Right Choice: The Impact of A-level Subject Choices on the Chances of Getting into a Russell
Group University
Boliver, V., Dilnot, C
(Durham University)
Recent research has shown that Russell Group university applicants from state schools and ethnic minority
backgrounds are less likely to be offered places than privately educated and white applicants with the same A-level
grades. This paper evaluates the Russell Group’s claim that this is due to the lesser tendency of state school and
ethnic minority applicants to have studied the right subjects at A-level. An analysis of empirical data shows that this
claim is only partially supported. Russell Group applicants from these backgrounds are indeed less likely to have
studied the subjects that Russell Group universities value most – they have studied fewer ‘facilitating’ subjects on
average, and have more subjects considered to be ‘useful but not facilitating’, ‘less effective preparation‘, and
‘noncounting’. However, applicants from state schools and ethnic minority backgrounds remain less likely to be offered
places at Russell Group universities even when they have the same A-level subject and grade profiles as their
privately educated and white peers.
Negotiating Higher Education as a ‘Student-parent’: The Impact of State Policy and Gender Norms
Brooks, R.
(University of Surrey)
Historically, university cultures have been described as masculine in orientation, and the ‘ideal learner’ as male, white,
middle class and unencumbered by domestic responsibility. Nevertheless, more recent work has highlighted certain
spaces within the higher education sector which, it is argued, are more welcoming of female students and those with
family commitments. While there may now be more institutional spaces open to student-parents and others with caring
responsibilities, we know little about whether similar change has been wrought in the domestic sphere. Drawing on
interviews with 68 student-parents, this paper explores the various strategies UK students with dependent children
used to find time and space, within the home, to pursue their studies. By comparing these to the strategies used by
student-parents at Danish universities, the paper considers the extent to which differences in gender norms and state
policy with respect to both higher education and childcare affect day-to-day familial practices.
Is Postgraduate Study the ‘New Frontier of Social Mobility’? Evidence from a Multi-institutional Study of
Taught Postgraduates
Wakeling, P., Hampden-Thompson, G., Hancock, S.
(University of York)
The one-year postgraduate taught masters degree has grown in size and significance in the UK in the past quartercentury.
Holders of such degrees are known to have advantages in income and work conditions (Lindley and Machin,
2011). There is evidence of inequalities in entry on the grounds of social class, gender and race/ethnicity (Lindley and
Machin, 2011; Wakeling and Hampden-Thompson, 2013) and strongly expressed concerns about access to taught
masters becoming a “new frontier” for social mobility and widening participation, particularly following changes to
student funding and a recent dip in enrolment rates for UK students (Higher Education Commission, 2012; Social
Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, 2013). To investigate in detail who enters masters degree study, how and
why we conducted a comprehensive PSS-funded study at six research-intensive English universities. This included
surveys of undergraduate alumni graduating in 2009 and 2012 (n = 3,135), surveys of new masters students in 2013
and 2014 and analysis of postgraduate application data. Using data from this study, we examine the background
characteristics (social class, gender, ethnicity and others) of those entering masters degrees and compare these with
BSA Annual Conference 2015 134
Glasgow Caledonian University