The American dream promised that if you worked hard, you could move up, with well-paying working-class jobs providing a gateway to an ever-growing middle class. Today, however, we have increasing inequality, not economic convergence. Technological advances are putting quality jobs out of reach for workers who lack the proper skills and training.…

This book examines the structural and cultural factors that explain the persistence of an attainment gap between white and Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students in UK universities. So-called 'deficit' approaches have long represented the orthodoxy in higher education strategy-making, yet they overlook the structural and institutional…

This case explores the use of feminist memory work with working-class women social science students, who narrated and interpreted what helped and hindered them to study at university. Gender and class sensitive, this method involves participants writing stories and then narrating them to other group members who collectively analyze the body of…

In 2006, this dissertation research project explored the experiences of working-class students in elite higher education at Radcliffe College during the years 1940-1970. By conducting a secondary statistical analysis of the "1977 Radcliffe Centennial Survey" (a comprehensive questionnaire of the life experiences of alumnae) and a…

"Welcoming Blue-Collar Scholars Into the Ivory Tower" is the first volume in a new book series designed to explore how institutional policies, practices, and cultures shape learning, development, and success for students who have been historically underserved or given limited consideration in the design of higher education contexts.…

While stories of working-class and minority students overcoming obstacles to attend and graduate from college tend to emphasize the individualistic and meritocratic aspect, this book--based in extensive empiral study of American high school classrooms, and in theories of social and cultural capital--examines the social relations that often…

Academic mobility promotes the development of joint research activities, broadens the horizons of researchers, lecturers and professors, and promotes knowledge flows between institutions. This book offers a contemporary perspective on the mobility of academics across the globe with contributions by authors based in Australia, Germany, Ireland,…

This book presents the evidence gathered from original interviews to show how the aspirations of young people develop in light of their social circumstances. Those who attend independent schools will find that the relationship between what goes on at home and at school makes it socially almost impossible not to have achievable aspirations for a…

This book overturns the typical conception of standards, empowering educators by providing concrete examples of how top-down models of assessment can be embraced and used in ways that are consistent with critical pedagogies. Although standards, as broad frameworks for setting learning targets, are not necessarily problematic, when they are…