‘Race’, Space and the Further Education Market Place

Abstract

This article is about the spacialisation of ‘race’ and the racialisation of space. It is based upon the analysis of provider and ‘consumer’ strategies in one post‐16 education and training market. The ‘race thinking’ of colleges in their attempts to recruit ‘particular kinds of students’ is set over and against the ‘race thinking’ of students in their choice of college. The recruitment of minority ethnic students is constructed by some providers as a ‘problem’ and by others as an ‘opportunity’. This is part of a more general ‘economy of student worth’. A spacial drift of choices away from ‘inner‐city’ institutions is identified. It is argued that choice is both enabled and constrained by the complex interplay of material spatial practices (e.g. housing patterns, transport, social networks) and the perceptions and imaginings of space (e.g. mental maps, the ‘friction of distance’, familiarity and fear). While the specific market under examination has particular spatial characteristics, the sort of analysis begun here illustrates the more general importance of the spatial analysis of ‘lived’ social markets.

[1] We are very grateful to Carol Vincent for her constructive comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

Notes

[1] We are very grateful to Carol Vincent for her constructive comments on an earlier draft of the paper.