ERIC Number: EJ1398127
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0142-5692
EISSN: EISSN-1465-3346
'They Think It's Trendy to Have a Disability/Mental-Illness': Disability, Capital and Desire in Elite Education
Stentiford, Lauren; Koutsouris, George; Allan, Alexandra
British Journal of Sociology of Education, v44 n6 p1067-1086 2023
Research has long demonstrated the exclusion and Othering experienced by young people with disabilities in education. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted in an 'elite' sixth-form college in England, set against the backdrop of a shifting social, political, and cultural landscape, where neo-liberal discourses of dis/ability and healthism--centring on mental health and wellbeing--are becoming further embedded in educational policy. Drawing on theoretical work by Bourdieu and Foucault, we demonstrate how the students in this study appeared able to re-make disability as a liberal intellectual identity marker and use it as a form of capital within the bounded college sub-field. However, we argue that these empowered disabled subjectivities were strongly "middle-classed" and "precarious." The findings have implications through advancing current understandings of young people's complexifying relationships with disability in education, of enduring inequalities around disability, and how social class is implicated in this.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, College Students, Competitive Selection, Institutional Characteristics, Reputation, Selective Admission, Students with Disabilities, Self Concept, Social Capital, Political Attitudes, Mental Disorders, Student Attitudes, Social Class
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A