Feeling irrationally overwhelmed

At the moment my studies are getting to me as I am in a spiral of constantly second-guessing myself and I want to write about it here to try and undo some of the harsh feelings I am going through. Now anyone that knows me will know that I am not someone to give in easily but my latest assignment has really played with my head.

Assignment:

This assignment came in two parts - part 1 was a ten-minute presentation looking at a particular situation through the lenses of two theoretical perspectives.

The second part of the assignment is an opportunity to take the same presentation and expand on it in a written assignment.

I think where my struggles come from is that I perhaps don't fully understand the two theories that I have chosen and that I haven't read enough. For the presentation, I scored 66% which is a fantastic mark here in the UK, so I am obviously doing something right. In preparing for the presentation I was never fully happy with the content of the presentation as I didn't feel that the argument was strong enough. After receiving my mark I was so happy but still not 100% happy with my argument.

I've spoken with a couple of friends who are academics who have told me that it's common to second guess when researching and working in a new field, which this most definitely is. They have also said that the best solution to the problem is to keep reading in the subject area, increase my knowledge, better understand what the views and arguments are in the area and then try to position myself or let myself be positioned in the argument by accepting my reactions to others views.

So I spent most of yesterday reading and finding more and more interesting articles cited in what I was reading and now I have a reading pile that is overwhelming and I still do not feel much clearer on the assignment.

Theories:

Power
My assignment is looking at the marketisation of higher education and the idea of looking at students as consumers and how this could be having an effect on the teaching and learning experience within higher education. I have decided to look at this through the theoretical perspectives of Pierre Bourdieu and cultural capital.  Cultural capital is essentially the social assets of a person: education, intellect, the way in which someone speaks and the way in which someone presents themself in society. All of this can be utilised to change someone's status within society and in some cases, help someone to change their class status.

My other theoretical perspective is Michel Foucault and his theory of power. The theory states that power is based on knowledge and that it makes use of knowledge. The more you know, the more tools you have at your disposal making you more powerful.

Both Bourdieu and Foucault are highly regarded for their academic work but also known for the divide that their work has created in peoples views of whether they were right or wrong. Papers arguing for and against their views are abundant and often complex and for the past few months, I have regularly been stuck in a literature hole lost and confused.

If I use this as a chance, to sum up, some of my assignment, higher education in the UK is required to provide data, statistics, survey feedback all to allow the government to instil competition between universities through tools such as the National Student Survey, league Tables and university rankings, plus information on graduates and their progression into employment or another route of education.

With prospective students today having all this data and information at their fingertips they feel in a position of power when deciding where and what to study.  Tuition fees, now at £9000 per year has changed how students approach their studies and for many, they seek value for money, transparency in how their fees are being used to enhance their student experience. some even see university as transactional where they pay £9000 per year and in return for attendance, they should receive a first or 2:1. tools such as surveys and feedback mechanisms provide students with a means to complain if they aren't satisfied with their studies. Students are feeling powerful that they have detailed knowledge of their chosen universities and that they also have tools and methods that they can use to complain about their lack of satisfaction of their course. Some are using these tools fairly but others are using them damagingly.

Cultural Capital
Higher education was traditionally available to the elite within society, seen as a career route for the middle and upper class. Reforms in the 1970s and 1980s saw universities focusing on widening participation, upskilling the nation and encouraging universities to accept students from different sections within society. Lower-income families, ethnic minorities and working-class sections of society suddenly saw higher education as a possible route for them and with governments funding university places, finances no longer stood in the way of someone going to university.

Increased education through attending university, plus the social awakening where people had the opportunity to experience activities and ways of life outwith their norm really changed some peoples perspectives of how their lives could be.

Some saw higher education as a gateway to learning new ways of behaving, dressing, speaking and this all had a knock-on effect of how they have been perceived within society, or how they felt society perceived them.  This had both positive and not so positive outcomes.

Many have thrived in their attempts at adopting new knowledge and their new version of themselves, able to gain insight and even feel a part of a new class or professional sector within society.  Others, however, don't fare so well as they feel conflicted between their native status inherited from their upbringing and their new identities that have emerged through their exposure to education and alternative options in how to live their lives. Some feel that they do not fit in within their new educated circles and feel like a fraud, and they also feel that they no longer fit in back in the societies that they grew up in as their eyes have been opened to new knowledge. People often treat them differently or they feel that they are treated differently.

Cultural capital has an effect on how universities are grouped: traditional universities such as the Russell Group and then there are the modern universities such as the post-1992 ex-polytechnics. within society, there are airs of elitism surrounding the traditional universities where academic excellence, research focus and reputational capital are prevalent and students are lead to believe that they are receiving the best higher education available. student populations are typically white middle class and there will almost be an expectation that graduating from one of these universities will lead to a successful career and middle-class life.

Post-1992 universities often offer more commercially relevant subjects, with applied, vocational and experiential knowledge and the student body is clearly more diverse with a greater representation of widening participation. These modern universities will work much harder to recruit students as their reputations may not be as longstanding as traditional universities and modern universities will definitely feel the effects of consumerism and the forces that come with it.

My job in my assignment is to look for arguments in the available literature that highlight and showcase both cultural capital and power are present and how other academics are shaping their arguments and where they stand in the bigger picture and also try and work out where I feel I may stand at this moment in time in terms of the arguments.

Any thoughts that you may have on any of this would be welcomed and I look forward to reading your comments.