This paper investigates how the emotional responses towards research assessment reflect both social position and strategy in the struggle for scientific authority. This is examined through interviews with humanities researchers conducted as a part of a study on the implications for research practice of the Danish Bibliometric Research Indicator…

This research examines conceptualisations of Chinese vocational education. The parallel routes of academic and vocational education sort students into either strand with standardised exams. However, the status of academic and vocational work has been established through a culture of Confucianism. In order to examine current conceptualisations of…

This article aims to address the research question of which educational strategies are employed by upper milieus to establish or maintain the 'structure of distances' in the field of higher education in late modernity. Inspired by Bourdieu's theory of social reproduction and conflict, the study examined 95 qualitative interviews conducted with…

Academia today is deeply hierarchical and continues to be centered around perceptions of prestige and symbolic capital. The symbolic capital, or pedigree, associated with the training one receives at the graduate level greatly informs how academics navigate their careers and how they advance professionally. In investigating the formation of the…

This article highlights the interactional work involved in relational aggression, and how rules and norms around sitting are used by students to achieve exclusion and dominance. This research took place in an English secondary school which educates pupils from Year 7 to sixth form (ages 11-18). Drawing on observation, walk-and-talk and group…

This article discusses how the introduction of technology has led to a fundamental shift in the relationship between education and time. As a means of analysing the extent of such changes on pupils from different backgrounds, I use Bernstein's "conditions for democracy" as a framework for evaluating the impact new understandings of time…

This article is based on a multi-site study of teachers in elite private schools in Australia. Teachers' accounts from this study bring nuance to the reasons one might short-handedly expect they have in working for these exclusive institutions. It is not that everyday motivations don't matter, for example, the financial compensations, the…

Public education is commonly perceived as a social good endowed with the capacity to equalise western citizens' chance of 'success'. In 2008 Australia introduced standardised testing and reporting procedures to improve educational quality and equity through two policy tools (NAPLAN/MySchool). Ensuing public debate culminated in two Senate…

Cosmopolitanism has been cast by some in recent years as a form of cultural capital, disproportionately available to students on elite educational pathways. This article tests this supposition, by comparing the enactment of global citizenship education reforms at two high-status and two low-status universities in the United Kingdom. These…

This article examines the school choices of families who have recently experienced downward mobility during the economic crisis in Spain. Based on semi-structured interviews we analyse the educational strategies of the families in a Bourdieusian framework, focusing on how they cope with the loss of their perceived social status. Prior to the…

This study draws on the concept of cultural capital to determine whether the cultural capital of students is related to their perceptions of classroom interactions, specifically teacher--student feedback practices. The analysis of new data in 'Feedback and Cultural Capital,' a Danish survey of feedback practices among 14-year-old and 15-year-old…

Building on the sociological work by Lareau, this study examined the association between students' socioeconomic background, prior achievement and the perception of teacher support within the classroom. We expected that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds would be more critical about the support they receive in the classroom and rate…

Over the past decades, many art advocates have argued for the intrinsic value of learning in the arts. Nevertheless, the arts continue to struggle to find a secure place within the school curriculum. Concerned about the arts' impact on classroom practice, this paper aims to cast light on diverse realities constructed by art teachers as insiders in…

Literacy is considered to be a public good--one that benefits not only literate people, but also others in society through mechanisms of sharing and mediation. But to what extent do the benefits of literacy extend to socially distant groups? This paper applies the sociological concept of social distance to examine how social stratification impacts…

This paper analyses tendencies that distinguish the internationalisation of education for two class fractions--owners of medium to large businesses and highly qualified university professors and researchers. We identify the importance of cosmopolitan cultural capital, particularly fluency in English, in strengthening the position of both groups…