Professor Stephen Ball
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- BA (Hons) Sociology, MA Sociological Studies, D.Phil Sociological Studies, Doctor Honoris causa (Turku)
- Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education
- Faculty:
- Department:
- Centre:
- Summary:
- My main areas of interest are in education policy analysis and the relationships between education and education policy and social class. I bring to bear on these issues the tools and concepts of "policy sociology" and in particular the methods of Michael Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. In 2008, I was involved in launching the BERA Social Theory and Education SIG.
- Teaching:
- Research:
- I recently completed 3 ESRC-funded projects, they are focused on: the relationships between philanthropy and education policy (with Carolina Junemann); policy enactments in secondary schools (with Meg Maguire KCL and Annette Braun); and the educational strategies of the black middle class (with Carol Vincent, David Gillborn and Nicola Rollock). I am also working on an international study of philanthropy and education policy with Antonio Olmedo funded by the British Academy.
- Postgraduate Research:
- I am interested in working with research students who take up problems and theoretical positions in policy analysis; the relationships of policy to social inequality; and the flows and methods of global education policy.
- Professional Activities:
- Fellow of the British Academy; Member of Academy of Social Sciences; FRSA
Chair Committee of Professors (2008-14); Head of Sociology Section (EFPS); Editor of the Journal of Education Policy
- Conferences/presentations:
- 'Researching the Black Middle Class: a view from Whiteness' Keynote Address to the British Educational Studies Association, Hull, 2012
'School Choice, Educational Markets and Class Privilege' Public Lecture, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany, 2012
'Global Social Capitalism – using enterprise to solve the problems of the world' Keynote Address, IACSEE Annual Conference, Bath, 2011
- Personal Country Knowledge:
- Languages Spoken:
- Website / Blogsite:
- Research Students:
- Some current research students:
Pablo del Monte: Educational futures in the 'villas' of Buenos Aires
Paula Mena: Struggles over the meaning of public education in Chile
Angela Oria: Genealogy of public education in Argentina
Claudine Rausch: Dividing mechanisms in primary classrooms
Chung-Yin Tseng: Discourses of teacher professionalism
Diego Santori: Neoliberal subjectivities in Chilean education
Patrick Bailey: Education policy dispositifs
Publications
- Ball, S., Maguire, M. Braun, A. (2012) How Schools do Policy. London, Routledge.
- Ball. S. (2012) Global Education Inc. New policy networks and the neo-liberal imaginary. London, Routledge.
- Ball, S., Junemann, C. (2012) Networks, New Governance and Education. Bristol Policy Press.
- Ball, S. (2012) Foucault, Power and Education. New York, Routledge.
- Ball, S. (2012) 'Performativity, Commodification and Commitment: An I-spy guide to the neollberal university', British Journal of Educational Studies 60 (1), 17-28.
- Braun, A., Vincent, C., Ball, S. (2010) 'Working-class fathers and childcare: the economic and family contexts of fathering in the UK', Community, Work & Family 1-19.
- Maguire, M., Ball, S., Braun, A. (2010) 'Behaviour, classroom management and student 'control': enacting policy in the English secondary school', International Studies in Sociology of Education 20 (2), 153-170.
- Vincent, C., Ball, S., Braun, A. (2010) 'Local links, local knowledge: choosing care settings and schools', British Educational Research Journal 36 (2), 279-298.
- Vincent, C., Ball, S., Braun, A. (2010) 'Between the estate and the state: struggling to be a 'good' mother', British Journal of Sociology of Education 31 (2), 123-138.
- Ball, S. (2010) 'New Class Inequalities in Education: why education policy maybe looking in the wrong place! Education Policy, Civil Society and Social Class', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 30 (3/4), 155-166.
