Social Theory and the Politics of Higher Education: Critical Perspectives on Institutional Research

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Social Theory and the Politics of Higher Education brings together an international group of scholars who shine a theoretical light on the politics of academic life and higher education. The book covers three key areas: 1) Institutional governance, with a specific focus on issues such as measurement, surveillance, accountability, regulation, performance and institutional reputation. 2) Academic work, covering areas such as the changing nature of academic labour, neoliberalism and academic identity, and the role of gender and gender studies in university life. 3) Student experience, which includes case studies of student politics and protest, the impact of graduate debt and changing student identities. The editors and chapter authors explore these topics through a theoretical lens, using the ideas of Michel Foucault, Niklas Luhmann, Barbara Adams, Donna Massey, Margaret Archer, Jrgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, Hartmut Rosa, Norbert Elias and Donna Haraway, among others. The case studies, from Africa, Europe, Australia and South America, draw on a wide range of research approaches, and each chapter includes a set of critical reflections on how social theory and research methodology can work in tandem.

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The book thus provides much food for thought: on the current state of power and politics of HE and its future, on the relationship between social theory, methodology and practice and how to balance such considerations, and on the issue of reflection and reflexivity in research publications. * International Journal of Research & Method in Education *

Author Bio

Mark Murphy is a Reader in Education and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is the editor of the Social Theory and Methodology in Education Research series (Bloomsbury). Ciaran Burke is Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Education and Childhood, University of the West of England, UK. Cristina Costa is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Durham University, UK. Rille Raaper is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Durham University, UK.