Rethinking diversity: Combining Sen and Bourdieu to critically unpack higher education participation and persistence

    Research output: Book chapter/Published conference paperChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

    Abstract

    Globally, growth in the number of students from diverse backgrounds entering
    university requires broader understanding of how persistence and success is
    enacted at an individual lived level. We know very little about how learners
    draw on ‘internal capabilities’ when persisting in higher education; these
    capabilities are not innate but instead develop in interaction with an individual’s environment (social, cultural, familial and political) and are informed by
    existing access to forms of capitals. Exploring how internal capabilities and
    capitals inform the act of persistence contributes much needed alternative
    perspectives to the issue of educational participation. This chapter outlines
    how the work of Amartya Sen and Pierre Bourdieu can be usefully combined
    and utilised within the higher education setting. In presenting this theoretical
    fusion, this chapter defines one approach to exploring what learners bring to
    the higher education field (capitals) and how existing capabilities are actioned
    to support relative success within this environment. Details of how this
    approach was applied within one study are provided and conclusions are drawn
    relating to wider applications of this methodological approach
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationTheory and method in higher education research
    EditorsJeroen Huisman, Malcolm Tight
    Place of PublicationBingley
    PublisherEmerald Group Publishing Limited
    Chapter7
    Pages115-129
    Number of pages15
    Volume6
    ISBN (Electronic)9781800433205
    ISBN (Print)9781800433212
    Publication statusPublished - 09 Nov 2020

    Publication series

    NameTheory and Method in Higher Education Research
    ISSN (Print)2056-3752

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