Bourdieu and higher education research: a bricolage approach

I argue for the continuing relevance of the Bourdieusian theoretical schema to research related to higher education. The paper discusses my use of Bourdieu in two research projects: an examination of the educational and occupational decision-making of final-year vocational A-level students; an analysis of the perceptions of final-year undergraduates regarding possible barriers to obtaining employment within primary teaching in the UK. Both investigations offered evidence of classed inequalities which shaped the ‘horizons for action’ of the student samples. I argue that Bourdieu offers a means of making visible such inequalities although his concepts may sometimes be employed to best effect in concert with other theoretical resources. In the paper, I provide examples where I have taken this approach.