Hegemony through Responsibilisation: Getting Working-Class Students into Higher Education in the United Kingdom

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.

Higher Education for Professional and Civic Values: A Critical Review and Analysis

“…Learning in a context resembling the context in which the learning will be applied facilitates the construction and elaboration of meaning and enables transferability while core participants serve as role models. Situating learning in a workplace or community adds not only relevance and meaning to the learners' experience but also creates a connection between educators and the community within which they are placed [35,36] and, potentially, realignment of the roles and responsibilities of society and university [35,[37][38][39]. Where individuals note a particular values-based standpoint with respect to, for example, environmental responsibility, it is often in the context of particular experiences that yield critical incidents [40,41].…”

The Responsibilized Consumer: Neoliberalism and English Higher Education Policy

“…Nobody with a commitment to the enactment of egalitarian values would deny that improved access to higher education for social groups who have historically been denied it is a good thing. And for decades young people, particularly those from lower socio-economic groups, have been enjoined to enter higher education in England on the basis of an informal but powerful "learning = earning" contract between the state and the individual (Morrison, 2014). Increased overall rates of participation, particularly among those from lower socioeconomic groups (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service [UCAS], 2014), would seem to indicate the success of such responsibilising discourses.…”