Hegemony through responsibilisation : getting working-class students into higher education in the United Kingdom

MORRISON, Andrew (2014). Hegemony through responsibilisation : getting working-class students into higher education in the United Kingdom. Power and Education, 6 (2), 118-129.

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Abstract

This article examines the role of the New Labour governments’ agenda for widening participation in higher education as a form of responsibilising discourse of working-class young people. Under the New Labour administrations of 1997—2010, a concerted attempt was made to attract working-class students into higher education through promotional initiatives such as the Aimhigher programme. Drawing from Raymond Williams’ discussion of hegemony and also from Nikolas Rose’s concept of the ‘enterprising self’, this article examines three explanatory/promotional documents from the Aimhigher programme aimed at working-class young people and their parents. The documents are analysed as materialisations of a powerfully hegemonic discourse of ‘responsibilisation’ towards participation in higher education. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which the widening access agenda has shifted since the coalition government came to power in 2010.

Item Type:	Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Sheffield Institute of Education
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.2304/power.2014.6.2.118
Page Range:	118-129
Depositing User:	Andrew Morrison
Date Deposited:	19 May 2015 08:18
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 14:20
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/9727

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