Final Full Version 2

Emerging Economic Geographies of Higher Education: A complex negotiation of value (and values) in the face of market hegemony by Erica Margaret Pani Photo: Erica Pani Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Statement of Originality I, Erica Margaret Pani, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: 20/10/2015 Details of collaboration and publications: Not applicable 2 Abstract Taking higher education (HE) in England as its case study, this PhD adapts and re- poses Roger Lee’s thesis on the Ordinary Economy to help understand how neoliberal market values become negotiated, embedded and transformed in and through complex emerging economic geographies. In 2011, pursuing a somewhat neoliberal theme, the HE White Paper sought to further organize the sector through the application of certain market values and metrics, whereby a demand-led system would increase efficiency and competitiveness by making universities more directly accountable to their student- consumers than ever before. Since the late 1970s, ascendant forms of neoliberalism have come under scrutiny with some political economy and governmentality scholars underscoring neoliberalization’s processual and variegated nature wherein geographies and extant political economic relations matter to its concrete manifestation. However, some studies have encountered difficulties in accounting for how top-down political programmes become “anchored into” the complexity of everyday life, and/or in pre- supposing that their desired “subject-effects” will be either automatically realized or successfully resisted (Barnett, 2005). Thus, by residualising “the social”, theories of hegemony and governmentality often fail to illuminate the complex interplay between abstract policy programmes and the complexity of the O rdinary Economy . To overcome such weaknesses, this PhD follows Lee’s assertion that economic geographies are always emerging and inherently relational entities in and through which value emerges from the practice and performance of socio-economic life. Thus, studying the economy means grappling with the multiple values, social relations and notions of value that constitute economic geographies. Adapting a framework to examine four universities in England, the PhD illuminates the transformative power of both political programmes and socio-economic relations as, in this case, market hegemony was (re)-produced in multiple and complex forms. Neoliberalization is thus shown to be a bottom-up as well as top-down process that is constructed in practice . For it is the practice of socio-spatial economic relations that determines what is and is not value. 3 Acknowledgements Just over nine years ago, I was given the opportunity to study for an undergraduate degree in Cities, Economy and Social Change in the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London. That opportunity changed my life. Not only did I lack any qualifications relevant to studying Geography – I had an A Level in Art and a very solid BTEC National Diploma in Building and Architectural Studies – I was faced with the opportunity costs of leaving a well-paid job at the age of 41. Perhaps it was simply my good fortune that my university of choice placed great emphasis on the value of widening access and that I entered higher education just before the student fee began its precipitous rise. However, I prefer to think that I was fortunate because at the time higher education and my ability to participate in it were still being actively valued as, predominantly, a public good. I am, therefore, extremely grateful to a whole host of people – in particular my teachers, mentors and colleagues at Queen Mary. On completion of my BA, I was fortunate to receive an ESRC 1+3 scholarship that enabled me to undertake a Masters and PhD. Without the generosity of the ESRC I may not have remained in higher education. But I did; and for that I am thankful. Moreover, I am thankful to my supervisors Professors Jane Wills and Roger Lee whose experience, guidance, input, friendship and support have seen me through to completion. Whilst in this regard both Jane and Roger have been equally important, I cannot help but give special thanks to Roger for providing me the foundations of my thesis. His work on value and the Ordinary Economy has been my constant companion for more than five years and his insights are a constant source of inspiration. I simply could not be more grateful. Finally, I thank each and every one of my family members (both present and not) for their love, support and encouragement – in particular my partner, Nancy Holman. Thank you all. 4 Table of Contents PART I 1 Introduction 10 1.1 The marketisation of higher education in England as a case study 15 1.1.1 The market order: shaping the social organisation of higher 15 education 1.1.2 An accidental market or deliberate political act? The wider 18 political economy 1.1.3 The English HE sector: a brief overview 24 1.2 Thesis structure 26 2 Neoliberalization and the Ordinary Economy : Arguments for a 31 Different Approach 2.1 Introduction 31 2.2 Neoliberalism: a working definition 32 2.3 Neoliberalization: from ideology to process 37 2.4 Political Economy and the problem of hegemony 42 2.4.1 The turn to Foucault 45 2.4.2 Governmentality and the production of hegemony 49 2.4.3 Governmentality and its problematizations 51 2.5 Emerging Economic Geographies and the Ordinary Economy : a 55 conceptual lens 2.5.1 Value in economic geographies 56 2.5.2 Social relations of value 61 2.5.3 Economic imaginaries, semiosis and the (always partial) 66 production of hegemony 2.6 Conclusion 69 2.7 Overall research aim and questions 71 3 Methodology 73 3.1 Ontological and epistemological foundations 73 3.2 The case study approach 76 3.2.1 Introduction: The marketisation of higher education in England 76 3.2.2 Why undertake a case study approach? 77 3.2.3 Selecting the cases for in-depth study: the first steps 80 3.2.4 Computing the data set and making the selection 84 3.3 Methods 87 3.3.1 Exploring the production and strategic-selection of marketisation 88 as a technology of government for steering HE in England 3.3.2 The discourse analysis 91 3.3.3 The in-depth study of the four HEIs 94 3.3.4 Archival research 96 3.3.5 In-depth, semi-structured interviews 97 3.3.6 Ethical considerations and difficulties 100 5 3.3.7 Analysis and reporting of interview data 103 3.4 Conclusion 105 4 Higher Education Policy and the Market Imaginary as a ‘Semiotic 106 Order’ 4.1 Introduction 106 4.2 The iterative emergence of a higher education sector 109 4.2.1 Propagation: the roots of two ‘systems’ 110 4.2.2 Expansion 113 4.2.3 Setting the pattern 116 4.2.4 The last hurrah! 118 4.2.5 He who pays the piper 121 4.2.6 “Roll-up!” “Roll-back!” “Roll-out!” 123 4.3 The incremental extension of the market imaginary: HE policy 128 from Dearing to Browne (and just a little bit beyond) 4.3.1 Dearing: The small issue of the fee 128 4.3.2 Blair: Top-up fees and a differentiated market 132 4.3.3 Current policy: students at the heart of the system 138 4.4 Conclusion 150 PART II Preface 156 5 Meaning Making: Complexity Reduction 161 5.1 Introduction 161 5.2 Meaning making and strategy formation: the concomitant potential 163 for normalisation and variation 5.2.1 Setting the home-undergraduate fee: where policy meets the 164 Ordinary Economy 5.2.2 The discursive context: the stories that we tell ourselves 165 5.2.3 Global Entrepreneur: escaping Government regulation 169 5.2.4 Down Town Coastal: The unexpected shelter of the ‘squeezed 176 middle’ 5.2.5 Four Town Local: Clawing back the ‘ante’ for survival under 184 ‘winner v loser’ politics. 5.2.6 Palace Aspirational: Calling time on timeless values – where 195 aspirations meet the market meter 5.3 Conclusion 204 6 Putting Strategies into Practice: Complexity Re-introduction and the 209 Fallacy of Dualities 6.1 Introduction 209 6.2 The student as consumer: driving quality in a demand-led system 211 6.2.1 Enhancing the student experience: the defense of space in the 215 struggle over value 6 6.2.2 Information? Absolutely! Key Information Sets? Only because we 223 have to! 6.2.3 Traversing the identity threshold: The Student Charter and the 232 inside-outside student-consumer 6.3 Conclusion 243 7 Emergence: The Multiple and Complex Economic Geographies of 246 Higher Education 7.1 Introduction 246 7.2 Signified emergence: the co-existent struggle between (confused) 248 constraint and (complex) variation 7.3 The fallacy of duality in ‘emergence’: the constitution of market- 256 like and/or business-like behaviours 7.4

Load more