The ‘biographical turn’ in university sociology teaching: a Bernsteinian analysis

Abstract

Little is known about what happens to disciplinary knowledge when it is taught in contemporary UK universities of different status. Here, Basil Bernstein's theories are applied to what sociology lecturers say about teaching, demonstrating that in conditions in which students are less likely to engage with sociological theory, lecturers, particularly in universities of lower status, employ ‘biographical methods’ to ensure that a ‘core’ of sociology remains intact and sociology is reproduced in students. Students’ lives are used as subject matter to teach the relevance and value of sociology. Attention is drawn to how, while this pedagogic strategy might result in a powerless form of ‘pop sociology’, in this case, lecturers bring theory, student research and application into a dynamic relationship which unexpectedly suggests that, at present, sociology might be more easily preserved in the less prestigious universities.

Keywords:

• Basil Bernstein
• teaching sociology
• biographical pedagogy
• social class

Notes

1. The first time a Bernsteinian concept is introduced in the text, it will be in italics, thereafter it will be incorporated into the text.

2. A university which was a polytechnic before ‘incorporation’ abolished the distinction in 1992.

3. Pseudonyms are used both for the universities and lecturers.

4. A three-year ESRC-funded project ‘Quality and inequality in university undergraduate degrees’ begans in November, 2008 which is building on this study.

5. Bernstein contrasts sociology with physics, which has a ‘vertical knowledge structure’ and strong boundaries – it is clear what is and what is not physics.

6. Anna Vignoles reported on the project ‘Widening participation in Higher Education: a qualitative analysis’ at a Widening Participation in Higher Education dissemination event for the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Project (TLRP) on 17 June 2008 (www//tlrp.archive.org).

7. See ‘Debate grows on academic rigour of degrees’, Times Higher Education, 28 August 2008, pp. 8–9.

8. It should noted that the departmental preference for a more empirically focused sociology is not supported by the university which has discouraged the appointment of lecturers with applied backgrounds in preparation for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

9. Arcadia [N], Houndgate [N], Larcia [O], Townfell [N].