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Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical commentary on the potentially devastating consequences of market logic for learning. In this paper, we consider the student-consumer prominent in these debates as a contested yet under-analysed entity. In contrast to the dominance of homo economicus discursively constructed in policy, we offer a psychoanalytically-informed interpretation of undergraduate student narratives, in an educational culture in which the student is positioned as sovereign consumer. We report findings drawn from in-depth interviews that sought to investigate students' experiences of choice within their university experience. Our critical interpretation shows how market ideology in an HE context amplifies the expression of deeper narcissistic desires and aggressive instincts that appear to underpin some of the student 'satisfaction' and 'dissatisfaction' so crucial to the contemporary marketised HE institution. Our analysis suggests that narcissistic gratifications and frustrations may lie at the root of the damage to pedagogy inflicted by unreflective neoliberal agendas. We finish with a discussion about the managerial implications of our work.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust, cynicism and efficacy on young peoples' (non)voting behaviour during the 2005 British general election.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were gathered from 1,134 interviewer‐administered questionnaires with young first‐time voters during the three‐week period following the British general election in May 2005. Validated attitudes statements were used to measure their levels of trust, cynicism and efficacy.FindingsThe research shows that young people are generally distrusting of and very cynical about politicians and the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) Thus, in part, the data support the existing evidence that cynicism contributes to feelings of political alienation. However, the paper's findings also indicate that while young people can be highly distrusting and cynical, they can also be interested in the election and vote.Research limitations/implicationsCurrent, negative evaluations of young people and electoral politics need to be reviewed. While, it cannot be denied that this age group are highly cynical, and their electoral participation is in decline, for some, this cynicism, when combined with personal efficacy, can act as a positive force to stimulate “monitorial” interaction with election offerings. Consequently, further research is needed to understand young peoples' perceptions of democracy and electoral politics, how their personal efficacy can be increased and what feeds their cynicism.Originality/valueThis paper offers a contemporary understanding of young people as an interested and critical citizenry and raises a number of important questions that set a new agenda for political marketers researching youth electoral engagement in the future.

Studies that have engaged parasport broadcasting, particularly through a narrative lens, have almost exclusively relied on textual and/or content analysis of the Paralympic Games as the source of cultural critique. We know far less about the decisions taken inside Paralympic broadcasters that have led to such representations. In this study – based on interviews with senior production and promotion staff at the United Kingdom’s Paralympic broadcaster, Channel 4 – we provide the first detailed examination of mediated parasport from this vantage point. We explore the use of promotional devices such as athletes’ backstories – the ‘Hollywood treatment’ – to both hook audiences and serve as a vehicle for achieving its social enterprise mandate to change public attitudes towards disability. In so doing, we reveal myriad tensions that coalesce around representing the Paralympics, with respect to the efforts made to balance the competing goals of key stakeholders and a stated desire to make the Paralympics both a commercial and socially progressive success.