Contextualizing rationality: Mature student carers and higher education in England

Gonzalez-Arnal, Stella; Kilkey, Majella

Abstract

In England, the Government has implemented policies to increase and diversify participation in higher education (HE). Changes in funding arrangements that shift the burden of paying for education from the state to individuals have also been introduced. To reconcile the contradiction between widening participation and the individualization of the costs of study, HE is being framed as a risk-free and individualized financial investment. Informed by critiques from feminist economics and the philosophy of rational economic man, this paper argues that the government's HE policies are permeated by a narrow concept of reason and presuppose highly individualized, instrumental, and economic actors. Drawing on the findings from two studies conducted at the University of Hull, this paper demonstrates how this understanding of human behavior is incongruent with the experiences of one group of students-mature student carers-whose life choices are informed by their caring responsibilities.

Citation

Gonzalez-Arnal, S., & Kilkey, M. (2009). Contextualizing rationality: Mature student carers and higher education in England. Feminist economics, 15(1), 85-111. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545700802528323

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2008
• Online Publication Date: Feb 17, 2009
• Publication Date: 2009-01
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Feminist Economics
• Print ISSN: 1354-5701
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-4372
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: PII 908750857
• Pages: 85-111
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13545700802528323
• Keywords: Economics and Econometrics; General Business, Management and Accounting; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Gender Studies
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/472877