Lessons for higher education: the university as a site of activism

Abstract

Len Barton is acutely aware of the power of the academy to either enhance critical thinking or to depress it. He is a true academic, never accepting the received wisdom or perspective of any given sociological standpoint, no matter how powerful or fashionable it was at the time. He has encouraged and promoted a unique blend of professional and public sociology of education that has left a profound legacy not only in the United Kingdom but beyond. While the neo‐liberal ideology had hegemonic status for most of his professional life, Len chose to engage in a counter‐ideological struggle; he created new intellectual spaces in the academy where people could safely dissent from the reigning intellectual orthodoxies. He operated according to the principles of Gramscian thinking by mounting a war of position, in journals, books, teaching, conferences and research, for critical intellectuals. And he encouraged other people to do likewise. This article explores the ways in which Len’s work inspired the establishment of the Equality Studies Centre and the School of Social Justice in University College Dublin. It outlines the lessons learned from Len Barton about higher education and its potential as a site for critical analysis and action.