32 Times Higher Education8 February 2018
Working-class scholars still face prejudice
Louise Morley, director of the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research,
University of Sussex
Working or studying in universities
was once reserved for the elite.
In the past the academy was not
designed for working-class people
but, even today, working-class
identity is still problematic in higher
education.
Current ideas about social mobility still
present working-class identity as a site from
which to escape. Universities are seen as rescu-
ing working-class students from poverty, social
exclusion and unemployment, and enhancing
their life chances as long as they conform to
current academic cultures. This deficit
construction of working-class people has been
the subject of considerable academic debate.
In 1997 Pat Mahony and Christine Zmroc-
zek published an edited collection of essays on
the themeClass Matters: “Working Class”
Women’s Perspectives on Social Class. The
book foregrounded working-class women’s
experience of studying and working in higher
education, challenging the trend to talk about
working-class experiences from a middle-class
perspective. Twenty years later, little progress
has been made in this field.
The introduction of tuition fees and the rise
of temporary teaching contracts, allied to the
inherent hierarchical structure and middle-
class male dominance of the university, has
unquestionably fuelled class discrimination.
We urgently need new critical theoretical
vocabularies, values and political actors to
start thinking differently about social class in
the context of higher education.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Centre
for Higher Education and Equity Research at
the University of Sussex recently invited Pat
and Christine, along with some of the original
contributors to the book, to debate “Does
Class Still Matter?” with newer researchers
from working-class backgrounds in today’s
academy. By sharing intergenerational experi-
ences of studying and working in higher
education, it was clear that the issue of social
class goes beyond demographics and the
simplistic notion of counting more working-
class people into the academy as an indicator
of social progress.
Speakers cited countless examples of
misrecognition and disrespect for their
academic contributions and expertise, as well
as a generalised feeling of not belonging to
networks and cultures that were controlled by
the elite. Class discrimination remains a
significant barrier in women’s academic
progress, often tightly bound up with other
inequalities, including ethnicity and sexualities.
Exclusion could be covert – based on lack of
invitations to networks, committees and influ-
ential positions in the academic community – or
more overt, with discussion about how accents
still sealed people into class identities.
Despite steps to improve access in
universities, there is an institutional failure to
recognise that working-class people bring a
wider range of understandings and life experi-
ences to the academy.
As a result, and regardless of their intellec-
tual achievements, capability or potential,
working-class staff and students are sidelined
or often feel that they have to overwork to
prove their value.
The relentless struggle to demonstrate
worth and counter class prejudice represents
an additional workload for working-class
people. It can also sow the seeds of self-doubt
as meritocracy and “excellence” are often
cited as a justification for overlooking margin-
alised groups. Speakers reported examples of
how they had repeatedly been made to feel
worthless. The challenge was not to internalise
this negativity and to stay creative and
committed to one’s intellectual work.
So how do we improve the situation and
ensure that social class is not a barrier to
higher education?
I would like to see universities appoint and
promote more diverse staff, and question how
and which leaders are appointed. In addition
to the obvious male dominance of leadership,
leaders are still overwhelmingly drawn from
elite backgrounds. We need to challenge
current funding regimes, such as tuition fees,
and develop more inclusive curricula.
Most importantly, though, we need to
understand, through our research, how social
class is a process, and to challenge the myriad
ways in which academia reinforces and
rewards class privilege. For example, oppor-
tunities for internationalising the student
experience via study-abroad programmes are
still overwhelmingly enjoyed by those from
wealthier family backgrounds.
Gendered, classed and racialised power is
relayed via everyday practices and exclusions
and micropolitical practices. Policy needs to be
accompanied by structured change interven-
tions and continuing statistical monitoring and
evaluation.
Rather than trying to fit more under-
represented groups into existing structures, we
need to spend time imagining the type of inclu-
sive university of the future that we desire.WRITE FOR US
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