What’s (in) a game? An empirical reflection on the relationship of higher education students to their discipline

Winzler, T. (2024) What’s (in) a game? An empirical reflection on the relationship of higher education students to their discipline. Critical Studies in Education, (doi: 10.1080/17508487.2024.2317232) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

This paper contributes to attaining a clearer view and understanding of the processes of socially induced changes of students in the ‘game’ of higher education (HE). First, it engages in a critique of the gaps of some prominent current literature on HE. It asserts the relatively autonomous dimension of games, both for those privileged in it and those that are not. This autonomous dimension diverts outside influences (e.g. class, gender, ethnicity) in context-specific ways. It forces the sociologist to clarify the game, its rules and regulations, and to relate this clarified game with the specific reactions and adjustments of its students. The Goffmanian concepts of ‘game’ and ‘instrumental formal organisation’ are used for that purpose. The relationship that outsider German economics students have to their subject game serves as an empirical case study. The paper suggests three types of relations (ways of playing) of student to disciplinary game, applicable to diverse circumstances – puzzle-solving, colonisation, and intransigence. These types of relations are fundamentally different, characterising an increasing degree of integration into the disciplinary game. In effect, the Goffmanian detour also invites further epistemological and theoretical reflections towards a revised- and re-sensitised study of students’ relationships to HE.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC Ref No: ES/J500136/].
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Winzler, Dr Tim
• Authors: Winzler, T.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Critical Studies in Education
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1750-8487
• ISSN (Online): 1750-8495
• Published Online: 06 March 2024
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Critical Studies in Education 2024
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence