Social justice in a market order: graduate employment and social mobility in the UK

ABSTRACT

Framed within a Gramscian analytical perspective, this article contrasts the ‘transparent neoliberalism’ of one of its leading organic intellectuals, Friederich Hayek, with one of the key discourses of ‘euphemized neoliberalism’ in the UK: higher education’s promise of social justice through social mobility. The article discusses the disjunctions between ideology and discourse but also between discourse and the reality of class-based unequal graduate employment outcomes in the UK. I then consider some recent policy proposals to redress such inequalities and scrutinize these in the light of Hayek’s views on social justice within a market economy. In the final section, I return to Gramsci to re-evaluate the continuing relevance of the concept of organic intellectuals in the light of debates around the shifting position of intellectuals within contemporary society.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• social class
• social justice
• graduate employment
• educational policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Morrison

Andrew Morrison is a lecturer in Education Studies, specializing in the sociology of post-compulsory education.