Privilege, Agency and Affect Understanding the Production and Effects of Action

by Maxwell, Claire; Aggleton, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781137292629
• ISBN10: 1137292628
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-11-08
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The concept of agency has long been drawn upon – overtly or implicitly – in contemporary social theory. However, theory shapes how human agency and its determinants are understood and can be built upon. The last few years have seen growing interest in notions of privilege and affect. How might these newer concepts affect our understanding of agency? Does human agency need to make new modes of sociability possible, and how does privilege constrain or facilitate possibilities for social change? Privilege, Agency and Affect seeks to answer some of these questions, showcasing recent work by UK, North American, Australasian and Scandinavian writers at the cutting edge of sociology, social theory and education. Strongly empirical as well as theoretical in the approach taken, it offers a timely extension of foundations laid in early 21st century social theory and debate.

Author Biography

Claire Maxwell is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Education in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. Together with Peter Aggleton, she is leading an ESRC supported study entitled Top Girls: Middle Class Privilege and Agentic Practice.

Peter Aggleton is Strategic Professor in Education and Health in the Centre for Health and Social Research at The University of New South Wales, Australia. He holds visiting professorial positions in the UK and in Norway. He edits three major journals (Culture, Health & Sexuality, Sex Education and the Health Education Journal). Together with Sally Power and Michael Reiss he edits the prestigious book series Foundations and Futures of Education.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Privilege, Agency and Affect – Understanding the Production and Effects of Action; Claire Maxwell and Peter Aggleton
PART I: PRIVILEGE, EMOTIONS AND REPRODUCTION THROUGH ELITE EDUCATION
3. The Libidinal Economy of the Globalising Elite School Market; Jane Kenway, Johannah Fahey and Aaron Koh
4. The Sense of Entitlement; Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, Kate Cairns and Chandni Desai
5. Elite School Capitals and Girls' Schooling: Understanding The (Re)production of Privilege through a Habitus of 'Assuredness'; Joan Forbes and Bob Lingard
PART II: AGENCY AND AFFECT IN AND THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION
6. The Space of Academia: Privilege, Agency and the Erasure of Affect; Sue Clegg
7. Institutional Accountability and Intellectual Authority: Unconscious Fantasies and Fragile Identifications in Contemporary Academic Practice; Claudia Lapping
8. Privilege, Agency and Affect in the Academy: Who Do You Think You Are?; Valerie Hey
PART III: PRIVILEGE, DOMINANCE AND HIERARCHY BETWEEN FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
9. 'Mumsnetiquette': Online Affect within Parenting Culture; Tracey Jensen
10. Regenerational Selves and Regional 'Resilience': Agency, Entitlement and Privilege in the North East of England; Yvette Taylor
PART IV: AGENCY, PRIVILEGE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
11. The White Middle Classes and Urban Comprehensive Schools: Ambivalences and Anxieties of Privilege; Diane Reay
12. Negotiating Privilege through Social Justice Efforts; Adam Howard
13. Gender on Class Journeys; Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen
PART V: END NOTES
14. Feeling Rules, Atmospheres and Affective Practice: Some Reflections on the Analysis of Emotional Episodes; Margaret Wetherell
15. Privileging and Affecting Agency; Laura M. Ahearn
16. Privilege, Agency and Affect – Moving Further Debate; Claire Maxwell and Peter Aggleton