Crime and the university: The story of Sort’d, a community-(higher) education project

Abstract

This article is about undergraduate students and young offenders working together on an education project in an Institute of Higher Education. The author argues that the ways in which the students and offenders learn together provide lessons for academics and practitioners working to develop progressive probation practices. This link between the academic and practice is pushed in new directions by the theoretical framework within which Neary situates his work. Neary presents a challenging reinterpretation of the notion that all crime is property crime, including crimes of sex and violence. Neary argues that while not all crime is motivated by money, money is the most significant form of social property; and, therefore, an understanding of the social power of money and the society it dominates is the key to any social theory that seeks to develop the most progressive forms of critical practice. In the Sort'd project money is very much the central issue, not only in terms of Neary's critical social theory, but through the provision of £500 grants that are awarded to young offenders who complete their educational projects.

Student as producer: an institution of the common? [or how to recover communist/revolutionary science]

“…This is how subversion works, by using the language and protocols of the enterprise university against itself. For example, employability is redefined by Student as Producer as the world of work, giving space for academics to engage in a critical debate about student unemployability, poverty and debt (Neary 2006). The debate about the student learning environment is framed around the politics of space and spatiality, the construction of democratic and horizontal spaces within which collaborations can multiply (Neary and Saunders 2010).…”

“…Student as Producer exists beyond the University of Lincoln, forming part of a worldwide movement of academic activism, including scholars and students, against the increasing corporatisation and privatisation, against fees and the deregulation of higher education (Neary 2012). Where these actions have been theorised, they are ripped from the pages of the most subversive authors of the 20th century, including Henri Lefebvre, Guy Debord, Raoul Vaniegem, now written up to coincide with contemporary events.…”

Probation Education, Why the Hush? A Reply to Stout and Dominey's December 2006 Counterblast

“…In sharp contrast to the orthodoxy of the current training agenda and 'what works? ', Neary (2006) provides a vivid account of the Sort'd Project, an exciting innovation that arose from an undergraduate sociology course, which pairs students at Warwick University with young offenders.…”

Student jako wytwórca: instytucja dobra wspólnego? Czyli o tym, jak odzyskać komunistyczną/rewolucyjną naukę

“…Tak właśnie wygląda działanie wywrotowe wykorzystujące język i procedury menedżerskiego uniwersytetu przeciwko niemu. Dla przykładu, projekt redefiniuje zatrudnialność w odniesieniu do świata pracy, co pozwala na zaangażowanie się pracowników naukowych w krytyczną dyskusję na temat bezrobocia wśród studentów i absolwentów, ubóstwa oraz długu (Neary 2006). Z kolei dyskusja na temat środowiska nauki oferowanego studentom prowadzona jest w kategoriach polityki przestrzeni i przestrzenności, tworzenia demokratycznych, "poziomych" przestrzeni, w których współpraca może przybierać na sile (Neary i Saunders 2010).…”