Gangs and gang violence continue to be serious challenges throughout South Africa, but especially in cities such as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. In the northern areas of Port Elizabeth, hardly a day goes by without at least 1 report in the local news media about gang-related incidents. Most of the gangs in the northern areas have organised and…

Students can influence their education through evaluations and as representatives in university decision-making bodies. A way to give them more power is through participation in course development as equal partners. In this study, the relationship between the outcome of a student-teacher partnership and a culture of student influence and…

Research on the effects of mass schooling on social cleavages in Africa ignores descent-based hierarchies despite their affecting 218 million people on the continent. In contrast, I show how pursuit of social mobility and honor to overcome descent-based discrimination underpinned Haalpulaar parents' and youths' engagement with secondary school in…

Purpose: This paper explores the impact of a suite of alcohol culture change interventions implemented by Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. The interventions were designed to change the alcohol culture at a bi-annual nation-wide university multi-sport competition known as Uni Nationals. This study aims to understand the critical success…

Conventional expectations about subcultural groups can be undermined by unusual performances of some individual members. Several recent movies have concerned people of exceptional ability who unexpectedly excelled at prestigious centers of learning. "The Man Who Knew Infinity," "The Imitation Game," and "The Theory of…

The issue of cultism has in spite of many efforts at reducing it, soared up in the Nigeria's tertiary institutions. Cultism has cast gloom over the educational sector. It is repeatedly said that the youths are the future leaders but it is a little wonder what the future holds for the youth of this country which has a good proportion of her youth…

This new book is a wide-ranging, contemporary and accessible analysis of familiar and recurring myths about mass education in the United Kingdom. Looking at a variety of important issues and problems, each chapter begins by dispelling myths and assumptions about the classroom, going beyond class, race and gender, to offer analysis of topics such…

Over the last 2--3?years there has been a sharp increase in the UK in the number of concerns voiced about "laddism", "laddish" or "lad" cultures in higher education (HE). Drawing on a project that explored laddism on a sports science degree in one university, this article explores constructions and understandings of…

Since its beginnings in the late 1970s, punk culture has been associated with counter-mainstream ideology and anti-institutional antagonism. In particular, formal education has been criticised in punk for sustaining oppressive social and conceptual orders and associated behavioural norms. Drawing on literature and interviews, this paper focuses on…

Studies of socialization from a stratification perspective stress that while people accept socialization in a broad sense, individual behavior is affected and controlled by special strata relationships and strata culture. This paper sees rural college students as a subculture group and describes their new cultural experiences and the development…

This paper reports the findings of an eight-month ethnographic study of a small group of at-risk youths in a school of a southern coastal city in China. The process leading to the young students being marginalised by the school system and how they developed a "muddling through" subculture to counteract this marginalisation is revealed.…

High achievement, and in particular, the role of the academically diligent and successful "boffin" or "geek", are notably under-researched areas in the sociology of education. Issues around gender and other aspects of identity in relation to such pupils are particularly under-researched. In this Viewpoint article we draw on evidence from our…

The aim of this study is to determine organisational culture of the students studying in School of Physical Education and Sports (SPES) in Turkey. The study group of the research is composed of 216 students studying in the third and fourth year of Physical Education and Sports Teaching, Sports Administration, Coaching Education and Recreation…

This study examined the predictive factors in undergraduates' involvement in campus secret cults in public universities in Edo State of Nigeria. The study employed the descriptive method, specifically the survey format. A random sample of three hundred and eighty (380) undergraduates was drawn from the two public universities. Data were elicited…

The use of social networks is a growing phenomenon, being increasingly important in both private and academic life. Social networks are used as tools to enable users to have social interaction. The use of social networks (SNs) complements and enhances the teaching in traditional classrooms. For example, YouTube, Facebook, wikis, and blogs provide…