Sophie Rudolph

Jessica Gerrard

Arathi Sriprakash

Education and the Settler Colonial State

Learning Whiteness

Steven Threadgold

Class in Australia interrogates the position of class as an explanatory concept and investigates the current state and future of class analysis in Australia by bringing together a range of new and original research on inequality and class. Two decades since it was claimed that class is dead, social, economic and cultural inequalities are rising. Though Australia is often described as a 'lucky country' with a strong economy, we are witness to intensifying inequality with entrenched poverty and the growth of precarious and insecure labour. The disassociation of the rusted-on Labor voter and the rise of far-right politics suggest there is an urgent need to examine the contemporary functions of class relations. Class analysis in Australia has always had a contested position. The prominence of scholarship from the UK and US has often meant class analysis in Australia has had little to say about its settler colonial history and the past and present dynamics of race and racism that are deeply embedded in social and labour relations. In the post-war turn away from Marx and subsequent embrace of Bourdieu, much sociological research on class has focused on explorations of consumption and culture. Long-standing feminist critiques of the absence of gendered labour in class analysis also pose challenges for understanding and researching class. At a time of deepening inequality, Class in Australia is a timely examination of class relations, labour exploitation, and the changing formations of work in contemporary Australian society. 'From colonial inequality to Upper Middle Bogan, this captivating volume dives deep into how class has shaped our nation. Through studies of the unemployed, warehouse workers, unions and school students, this book presents the finest analysis of class that Australian sociology has to offer. Read it to get a richer understanding of poverty, a stronger sense of social status, and a nuanced analysis of how gender, race and sexuality intersect with class.' -- Andrew Leigh MP 'This is a must-read collection for anyone interested in the topic of class in Australia. This collection digs deeps and engages with relevant and timely discussions about class using both an historical and contemporary lens. For anyone who is teaching, studying, or writing about class as theory or method, this book will open up rich and productive conversations. Class is an enduring problematic, both as a descriptor, heuristic device or theoretical framework. This collection aptly responds to this problematic, engaging with class across multiple intersections including gender, race and space. It taps into class as symbolic and ephemeral whilst also highlighting the material, tangible divisions that it produces.' -- Dr. Emma Rowe, Senior Lecturer in Education, Deakin University

Class in Australia

Whiteness is produced through learning, making education systems central to white supremacy in settler colonial states

This book brings together high-quality international research which examines how migration and borders are experienced in education. It presents new conceptualisations of education as a ‘border regime’, demonstrating the need for closer attention to ‘border thinking’, and diasporic and transnational analyses in education. We live in a time in which borders – material and political – are being reasserted with profound social consequences. Both the containment and global movement of people dominate political concerns and inevitably impact educational systems and practices. Providing a global outlook, the chapters in this book present in-depth sociological analyses of the ways in which borders are constituted and reconstituted through educational practice from a diverse range of national contexts. Key issues taken up by authors include: immigration status and educational inequalities; educational inclusion and internal migration; ‘curricula nationalism’ and global citizenship; education and labour; the educational experiences of refugees and the politics of refugee education; student migration and adult education; and nationalism, colonialism and racialization. This book was originally published as a special issue of International Studies in Sociology of Education.

Jessica Gerrard

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