'acKnowledge: Race and Ethnicity in Sociology' Repository Final Report to the British Sociological Association

Evidence shows that the pedagogical practices in teaching race and ethnicity in Sociology requires a major shift from the margins and more to centre of Sociology (Joseph-Salisbury et al, 2020). In tune with the 2020 report, Cureton & Gravestock (2019) have argued that lacking a sense of belonging is common for BME students within higher education. While there is some clear focus in the commitment to addressing the lack of essential focus of race and ethnicity in Sociology, the pace of change is slow and sporadic across UK universities with much of the work placed on certain staff members with a particular interest in EDI or broadly related work on access, retention and racial social justice. There remains a greater need for senior management support, funding and human resources in these areas of work to in order to improve racial equity in Sociology. Overview of report In response to these key concerns, this BSA-funded research project set out to collate, analyse and promote examples of best practice in relation to improving the teaching of race in Sociology, as well as best practice in recruitment and retention of BAME students and scholars. Following the recommendations of the Race and Ethnicity in British Sociology report (Joseph-Salisbury et al, 2020), this project qualitatively surveyed and collated a range of widening participation initiatives and interventions in Sociology departments and cross-disciplinary departments around the United Kingdom with a particular focus on race. The survey findings were then collated into a number of thematic strands, such as decolonising the curriculum and encouraging a sense of belonging. The themes were informed by current research and pedagogy in critical race theory and evidenced by showcasing the work of Sociology departments that are demonstrating tangible progress in this field. This report focuses upon analysis of the survey submissions, breaking down the demographics of contributors who submitted to particular thematic strands. There were a total of 77 submissions to the repository. The report also refers back to the pedagogy and practice focused recommendations in the 2020 Race in Sociology report, highlighting best practice case studies submissions that help engage BME students, enhance a sense of belonging, and address the ‘leaky pipeline’ to postgraduate study for these students. The report then discusses the challenges and reflections on working in this area, and the constraints and opportunities of the project. Finally, the report offers key recommendations for the continued use and future potential of the repository, assisting members and other interested parties who use the BSA website to find tried and tested ways of improving racial equity in higher education

Millbank tendency: the strengths and limitations of mediated protest ‘events’ in UK student activism cycles

UK students’ desire to create disruptive, media-friendly ‘events’ during the 2010-11 protests against fees and cuts is reflective of wider cycles and processes in student activism history. First, constant cohort turnover restricts students’ ability to convert campaigns into durable movements, necessitating that they must periodically ‘start from scratch’. This informs a second process, namely the need to gain the attention of mainstream media, as this can potentially amplify students’ grievances far beyond their own organisational capacities. Both have shaped student activism over the past fifty years, compelling contemporary students to create protest events that live up to their radical history. These processes were evident in autumn 2010, when an NUS demonstration saw students attack and briefly occupy Conservative Party headquarters at 30 Millbank. The protest’s mass mediation was central to activists’ ‘eventing’ processes, and provided the spark for the radical UK-wide campaign that followed. Yet once the fees bill was passed by Parliament, students’ dependency on mainstream media cycles was quickly exposed. With ‘mediatization’ tendencies having dogged student activism since the sixties, this article argues that creating ‘events’ epitomises students’ longstanding strengths and limitations as society’s ‘incipient intelligentsia’ (Rootes, 1980: 475)

Participation and Non-Participation in Student Activism

There is a strong need to understand the changing dynamics of contemporary youth participation: how they engage, what repertoires are considered efficacious, and their motivations to get involved.This book uses the 2010/11 UK student protests against fees and cuts as a case study for analysing some of the key paths and barriers to political participation today. These paths and barriers – which include an individual’s family socialisation, network positioning, and group identification (and dis-identification) – help us explain why some people convert their political sympathies and interests into action, and why others do not. Drawing on an original survey dataset of students, the book shows how and why students responded in the way that they did, whether by occupying buildings, joining marches, signing petitions, or not participating at all. Considering this in the context of other student movements across the globe, the book’s combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, and its theoretical contribution provide a more holistic picture of student protest than is found in existing publications on activism

Open networks and secret Facebook groups: exploring cycle effects on activists’ social media use in the 2010/11 UK student protests

Much has been written in recent years about the growing impact of social media on social movements. While authors have extolled the virtues of Facebook and Twitter as organisational and informational tools for a range of movements from the Arab Spring to Occupy, evidence remains patchy as to under what conditions social media is most effective at engaging and mobilising the wider public. Drawing on the work of Tarrow, this article considers the impact of cycle effects on the effectiveness of social media as a mobilising and organising tool for the 2010/11 U.K. student protests. Although preceding the broader ‘movement of the squares’ contention cycle, the protests made similar use of social media for generating mass participation. Yet, its mobilising power was dependent on a number of temporal factors, including amplification through mainstream media and the urgency of its initial campaign goal. Moreover, towards the end of the cycle, activists were found to be using social media – via ‘secret’ Facebook groups – in ways that reinforced emerging group hierarchies, arguably contradicting their initial commitment to open-access networks and participatory democracy

Campaigning for a Movement: Collective identity and Student Solidarity in the 2010/11 UK Protests against Fees and Cuts

Despite its ubiquity as the term, ‘student movements’ are not easy to build or sustain. This is because campus activism typically features a diversity of political views and tactical preferences, and is organisationally restricted by the constant turnover of graduating cohorts. This chapter uses the 2010/11 UK student protests to explore some of the challenges students face in building a wider student movement. United initially by a common grievance of rising tuition fees, students responded quickly with a multi-repertoire mass campaign. Yet its tactical breadth generated diverging collective experiences and identities, and once the fees were passed by Government these identities proved difficult to unite as an overarching movement

Networks, counter-networks and political socialisation – paths and barriers to high-cost/risk activism in the 2010/11 student protests against fees and cuts

Why might people sympathetic to the goals of a protest campaign choose not to participate? What distinguishes them sociologically from those who do participate? This paper uses the 2010/11 UK student protests as a case study for understanding how contemporary social movements mobilise individuals for high-cost/risk forms of activism participation. The protests saw large-scale regional and national demonstrations take place, along with the formation of a network of simultaneous campus occupations across the UK, presenting a greater scale and diversity of protest participation opportunities than had been seen for a generation. Nevertheless, students' political background and network access remained significant not only for shaping attitudes towards the efficacy and meaningfulness of protest, but also making protest participation appear an ‘available’ option. This paper uses interviews with participating and non-participating students from four UK universities to explore the range of pathways to mobilisation for national demonstrations and campus occupations

Editors’ Introduction: Race and the Awarding Gap

This book is ostensibly about the white-BAME awarding gap, but any attempt to understand its causes and effects warrants a wider and deeper investigation of how structural racism and institutional whiteness permeate in contemporary UK society. Universities may not be the most egregious offenders, but they have nevertheless struggled to break beyond the liberal complacency that for many years has considered educational equity to be synonymous with educational access. This chapter traces the history of equality, diversity, and inclusivity policy (EDI) in higher education, highlighting the legislative and policy drivers for advancing racial equity. It then establishes the book’s theoretical framework, combining Bourdieu’s theory of capitals, critical race theory, and self-determination theory. Finally, the chapter introduces the book’s aims and purpose, drawing on the work of the University of Kent’s Student Success Team to understand and enhance the experiences of BAME undergraduates