Sumi Hollingworth | Koç University (original) (raw)
Books by Sumi Hollingworth
The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2011
Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in suppo... more Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in supporting learning in families. However, sociologists of education highlight that parent's ability to engage with their children's education and learning is not a straightforward issue. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper attempts to open up a space for examination of the differential experiences of parents from different social class backgrounds, of technology in the home, and how this informs the potential they see for family learning using technology. We use Bourdieu's concepts of ‘cultural and economic capital’ and ‘habitus’ to explore several themes. Firstly, the paper explores the impact of material inequalities of access on families and how this structures parental engagement with technology in relation to their children's schooling; secondly, how the harms and risks of technology are differentially experienced, negotiated and managed by parents from different social class backgrounds – with varying amounts of social and cultural resources available to them; thirdly, through discussion of the ‘generation gap’, we examine the significance of the parents' working lives (in terms of the privileged forms of engagement with technology, which professional employment increasingly requires and facilitates) in shaping parents' own relationships to education and learning.
The Journal of Youth Studies, 2015
This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social st... more This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures. I demonstrate how drawing on a cultural class analysis and education literature on learner identities and performativity can be productive in theorising the continued significance of class, and indeed also race and gender in young people's lives. In examining school-based friendships and (sub)cultural forms through empirical research in urban schools, I argue that not only are young people's subcultural groups structured by class, race and gender but also they are integral to the production of these identities. By examining the discursive productions of two school-based subcultures as examples: the ‘Smokers’ and the ‘Football’ crowd, I further argue that these identity positions embody resources or capitals which have differing value in the context of the urban school and thus demonstrate how race, class and gender privilege are maintained and reproduced through youth subculture.
* How can we understand the educational disengagement of urban, working-class young people? ... more * How can we understand the educational disengagement of urban, working-class young people?
* What role do schools and education policies play in these young people's difficult relationships with education?
* How might schools help to support and engage urban youth?
This book critically engages with contemporary notions of 'at risk' youth. It explores the complexity of urban young people's relationships with education and schooling and discusses strategies for addressing these issues.
Drawing on a two year study of urban 14-16 year olds, educational professionals and parents, the book focuses in depth on the views and experiences of ethnically diverse young Londoners who had been identified by their schools as 'at risk of dropping out of education' and as 'unlikely to progress into post-16 education'.
It provides an informative and accessible overview of the key issues, debates and theoretical frameworks. It is important reading for school leaders, teachers and learning support assistants as well as trainee teachers and educational researchers.
Papers by Sumi Hollingworth
The Sociological Review , 2019
Based on empirical, qualitative research on ‘social mixing’ in multi-ethnic London schools, this ... more Based on empirical, qualitative research on ‘social mixing’ in multi-ethnic London schools, this article argues for a conceptualisation of social mixing as an exchange of the self. Through analysis of three working-class, minority ethnic students who attempt to ‘cross borders’ into White middle-class subcultures, I explore the differing capital value embodied in their raced, classed and gendered identity positions. Friendships across this border are characterised by ‘semi-investments’ on both sides, and promise only partial possibilities for social mobility via social mixing, through limited access to academic capital and embodied Whiteness.
Journal of Youth Studies, 2015
This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social st... more This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures. I demonstrate how drawing on a cultural class analysis and education literature on learner identities and performativity can be productive in theorising the continued significance of class, and indeed also race and gender in young people's lives. In examining school-based friendships and (sub)cultural forms through empirical research in urban schools, I argue that not only are young people's subcultural groups structured by class, race and gender but also they are integral to the production of these identities. By examining the discursive productions of two school-based subcultures as examples: the ‘Smokers’ and the ‘Football’ crowd, I further argue that these identity positions embody resources or capitals which have differing value in the context of the urban school and thus demonstrate how race, class and gender privilege are maintained and reproduced through youth subculture.
Global Studies of Childhood, Sep 1, 2013
Taking seeming disinterest in early years music-making as its focal point, this paper explores th... more Taking seeming disinterest in early years music-making as its focal point, this paper explores the Deleuzian notion of (affect)ive assemblages to consider the relationships between formal early childhood services, the familial home environment of the ‘hard to reach,’ and the use of populist musical resources. In drawing on post-structuralist and feminist theorisations of performance, subjectivity, language and meaning I illustrate how discursive practices work at pathologising so that families are both contained and known within the nomenclature of ‘hard to reach’. The paper then moves to work with a number of Deleuzian concepts including ‘smooth/striated space’ as well as ‘nomad/nomadic’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). In so doing I illustrate nomadic resistance where new musical identities and affective relations between children, their families and musicality become possible for this elusive tribe. This paper, understood as a rhizomatic journey, offers a conceptual stutter so as to destabilise dominant constructions about particular families. The lens of enquiry focuses upon the configuration of one white, working-class family headed by a young single mother. In the English context such parents have become routinely pathologised and labeled ‘Chav Mums’ (Tyler, 2008) yet this Deleuzo-Guattarian inspired exploration seeks to offer a means of unsettling normative assumptions about family practices and the ‘becoming’ child within them which will serve to inform social justice debates in other global contexts.
Aspirations have been a key target of UK education policy, situated as central to raising attainm... more Aspirations have been a key target of UK education policy, situated as central to raising attainment and meeting the needs of the ‘knowledge economy’. In the UK, there have been calls to raise young people’s aspirations for careers in the creative industries – identified as emblematic of the new economic order and a key growth sector. Yet, the creative industries are socially and spatially restricted, characterised by unclear entry routes, exclusionary working practices and uneven geographical concentration in a handful of major cities. This paper draws on research with young people (aged 14-16 years) living in three urban area of deindustrialisation in England to examine the geography of young people’s aspirations for careers in the creative industries. We use the concept of place-specific habitus to problematise asocial and aspatial discourses of aspiration. We illuminate how social class and place powerfully and complexly interrelate to shape young people’s opportunities for social and geographical mobility through and for work in the knowledge economy.
In the context of a 'death' of class in popular and policy discourse, this paper argues that soci... more In the context of a 'death' of class in popular and policy discourse, this paper argues that social class is still a major force at work in young people's lives, particularly in the context of schooling. We argue that young people's subcultural groups are classed, in the way in which they are constructed in discourse. Drawing on a data set of 68 interviews with white, middle-class young people in three different cities in England, we argue that class can be seen and felt in young people's constructions of the 'chav', where white, working-class young people's ways of being and doing in the context of schooling, stand in stark contrast to the normative middle-class subject, and become pathologized.
Drawing on interviews with White middle-class families who choose to send their children to Londo... more Drawing on interviews with White middle-class families who choose to send their children to London comprehensive schools, this paper focuses on the construction of Whiteness and middle classness as privileged identities. The paper explores the contradiction between parents' desire for multiethnic 'mixed' environments for their children's schooling and their fear and ambivalence about their children being 'out of place' in these contexts. It examines how various practices and processes set these children apart and result in a reification of Whiteness and middle classness as normative. The paper concludes that comprehensive schooling can do little to dismantle privilege in a wider system of structural inequality.
Drawing on empirical data from a project exploring the experiences and identities of London schoo... more Drawing on empirical data from a project exploring the experiences and identities of London school children who were identified by their schools as being ‘at risk of dropping out’ of education, this paper highlights schools as important local spaces in urban children’s identity constructions. It is argued that the way in which schools and local areas are materially and discursively constructed can impact on children’s identities as learners and their engagement with education. The paper shows that urban children’s relationships to their school and local area are complex and contradictory, generating feelings of attachment and positive identification, but also fear and disgust. It is also argued that these feelings about place impact on children’s relationships to education.
Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in suppo... more Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in supporting learning in families. However, sociologists of education highlight that parent's ability to engage with their children's education and learning is not a straightforward issue. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper attempts to open up a space for examination of the differential experiences of parents from different social class backgrounds, of technology in the home, and how this informs the potential they see for family learning using technology. We use Bourdieu's concepts of ‘cultural and economic capital’ and ‘habitus’ to explore several themes. Firstly, the paper explores the impact of material inequalities of access on families and how this structures parental engagement with technology in relation to their children's schooling; secondly, how the harms and risks of technology are differentially experienced, negotiated and managed by parents from different social class backgrounds – with varying amounts of social and cultural resources available to them; thirdly, through discussion of the ‘generation gap’, we examine the significance of the parents' working lives (in terms of the privileged forms of engagement with technology, which professional employment increasingly requires and facilitates) in shaping parents' own relationships to education and learning.
The Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2011
Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in suppo... more Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in supporting learning in families. However, sociologists of education highlight that parent's ability to engage with their children's education and learning is not a straightforward issue. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper attempts to open up a space for examination of the differential experiences of parents from different social class backgrounds, of technology in the home, and how this informs the potential they see for family learning using technology. We use Bourdieu's concepts of ‘cultural and economic capital’ and ‘habitus’ to explore several themes. Firstly, the paper explores the impact of material inequalities of access on families and how this structures parental engagement with technology in relation to their children's schooling; secondly, how the harms and risks of technology are differentially experienced, negotiated and managed by parents from different social class backgrounds – with varying amounts of social and cultural resources available to them; thirdly, through discussion of the ‘generation gap’, we examine the significance of the parents' working lives (in terms of the privileged forms of engagement with technology, which professional employment increasingly requires and facilitates) in shaping parents' own relationships to education and learning.
The Journal of Youth Studies, 2015
This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social st... more This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures. I demonstrate how drawing on a cultural class analysis and education literature on learner identities and performativity can be productive in theorising the continued significance of class, and indeed also race and gender in young people's lives. In examining school-based friendships and (sub)cultural forms through empirical research in urban schools, I argue that not only are young people's subcultural groups structured by class, race and gender but also they are integral to the production of these identities. By examining the discursive productions of two school-based subcultures as examples: the ‘Smokers’ and the ‘Football’ crowd, I further argue that these identity positions embody resources or capitals which have differing value in the context of the urban school and thus demonstrate how race, class and gender privilege are maintained and reproduced through youth subculture.
* How can we understand the educational disengagement of urban, working-class young people? ... more * How can we understand the educational disengagement of urban, working-class young people?
* What role do schools and education policies play in these young people's difficult relationships with education?
* How might schools help to support and engage urban youth?
This book critically engages with contemporary notions of 'at risk' youth. It explores the complexity of urban young people's relationships with education and schooling and discusses strategies for addressing these issues.
Drawing on a two year study of urban 14-16 year olds, educational professionals and parents, the book focuses in depth on the views and experiences of ethnically diverse young Londoners who had been identified by their schools as 'at risk of dropping out of education' and as 'unlikely to progress into post-16 education'.
It provides an informative and accessible overview of the key issues, debates and theoretical frameworks. It is important reading for school leaders, teachers and learning support assistants as well as trainee teachers and educational researchers.
The Sociological Review , 2019
Based on empirical, qualitative research on ‘social mixing’ in multi-ethnic London schools, this ... more Based on empirical, qualitative research on ‘social mixing’ in multi-ethnic London schools, this article argues for a conceptualisation of social mixing as an exchange of the self. Through analysis of three working-class, minority ethnic students who attempt to ‘cross borders’ into White middle-class subcultures, I explore the differing capital value embodied in their raced, classed and gendered identity positions. Friendships across this border are characterised by ‘semi-investments’ on both sides, and promise only partial possibilities for social mobility via social mixing, through limited access to academic capital and embodied Whiteness.
Journal of Youth Studies, 2015
This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social st... more This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures. I demonstrate how drawing on a cultural class analysis and education literature on learner identities and performativity can be productive in theorising the continued significance of class, and indeed also race and gender in young people's lives. In examining school-based friendships and (sub)cultural forms through empirical research in urban schools, I argue that not only are young people's subcultural groups structured by class, race and gender but also they are integral to the production of these identities. By examining the discursive productions of two school-based subcultures as examples: the ‘Smokers’ and the ‘Football’ crowd, I further argue that these identity positions embody resources or capitals which have differing value in the context of the urban school and thus demonstrate how race, class and gender privilege are maintained and reproduced through youth subculture.
Global Studies of Childhood, Sep 1, 2013
Taking seeming disinterest in early years music-making as its focal point, this paper explores th... more Taking seeming disinterest in early years music-making as its focal point, this paper explores the Deleuzian notion of (affect)ive assemblages to consider the relationships between formal early childhood services, the familial home environment of the ‘hard to reach,’ and the use of populist musical resources. In drawing on post-structuralist and feminist theorisations of performance, subjectivity, language and meaning I illustrate how discursive practices work at pathologising so that families are both contained and known within the nomenclature of ‘hard to reach’. The paper then moves to work with a number of Deleuzian concepts including ‘smooth/striated space’ as well as ‘nomad/nomadic’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). In so doing I illustrate nomadic resistance where new musical identities and affective relations between children, their families and musicality become possible for this elusive tribe. This paper, understood as a rhizomatic journey, offers a conceptual stutter so as to destabilise dominant constructions about particular families. The lens of enquiry focuses upon the configuration of one white, working-class family headed by a young single mother. In the English context such parents have become routinely pathologised and labeled ‘Chav Mums’ (Tyler, 2008) yet this Deleuzo-Guattarian inspired exploration seeks to offer a means of unsettling normative assumptions about family practices and the ‘becoming’ child within them which will serve to inform social justice debates in other global contexts.
Aspirations have been a key target of UK education policy, situated as central to raising attainm... more Aspirations have been a key target of UK education policy, situated as central to raising attainment and meeting the needs of the ‘knowledge economy’. In the UK, there have been calls to raise young people’s aspirations for careers in the creative industries – identified as emblematic of the new economic order and a key growth sector. Yet, the creative industries are socially and spatially restricted, characterised by unclear entry routes, exclusionary working practices and uneven geographical concentration in a handful of major cities. This paper draws on research with young people (aged 14-16 years) living in three urban area of deindustrialisation in England to examine the geography of young people’s aspirations for careers in the creative industries. We use the concept of place-specific habitus to problematise asocial and aspatial discourses of aspiration. We illuminate how social class and place powerfully and complexly interrelate to shape young people’s opportunities for social and geographical mobility through and for work in the knowledge economy.
In the context of a 'death' of class in popular and policy discourse, this paper argues that soci... more In the context of a 'death' of class in popular and policy discourse, this paper argues that social class is still a major force at work in young people's lives, particularly in the context of schooling. We argue that young people's subcultural groups are classed, in the way in which they are constructed in discourse. Drawing on a data set of 68 interviews with white, middle-class young people in three different cities in England, we argue that class can be seen and felt in young people's constructions of the 'chav', where white, working-class young people's ways of being and doing in the context of schooling, stand in stark contrast to the normative middle-class subject, and become pathologized.
Drawing on interviews with White middle-class families who choose to send their children to Londo... more Drawing on interviews with White middle-class families who choose to send their children to London comprehensive schools, this paper focuses on the construction of Whiteness and middle classness as privileged identities. The paper explores the contradiction between parents' desire for multiethnic 'mixed' environments for their children's schooling and their fear and ambivalence about their children being 'out of place' in these contexts. It examines how various practices and processes set these children apart and result in a reification of Whiteness and middle classness as normative. The paper concludes that comprehensive schooling can do little to dismantle privilege in a wider system of structural inequality.
Drawing on empirical data from a project exploring the experiences and identities of London schoo... more Drawing on empirical data from a project exploring the experiences and identities of London school children who were identified by their schools as being ‘at risk of dropping out’ of education, this paper highlights schools as important local spaces in urban children’s identity constructions. It is argued that the way in which schools and local areas are materially and discursively constructed can impact on children’s identities as learners and their engagement with education. The paper shows that urban children’s relationships to their school and local area are complex and contradictory, generating feelings of attachment and positive identification, but also fear and disgust. It is also argued that these feelings about place impact on children’s relationships to education.
Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in suppo... more Government attention (in England and elsewhere) has been drawn to the role of technology in supporting learning in families. However, sociologists of education highlight that parent's ability to engage with their children's education and learning is not a straightforward issue. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper attempts to open up a space for examination of the differential experiences of parents from different social class backgrounds, of technology in the home, and how this informs the potential they see for family learning using technology. We use Bourdieu's concepts of ‘cultural and economic capital’ and ‘habitus’ to explore several themes. Firstly, the paper explores the impact of material inequalities of access on families and how this structures parental engagement with technology in relation to their children's schooling; secondly, how the harms and risks of technology are differentially experienced, negotiated and managed by parents from different social class backgrounds – with varying amounts of social and cultural resources available to them; thirdly, through discussion of the ‘generation gap’, we examine the significance of the parents' working lives (in terms of the privileged forms of engagement with technology, which professional employment increasingly requires and facilitates) in shaping parents' own relationships to education and learning.