Policy Sociology Research Articles

Digital policy sociology: software and science in data-intensive precision education

ABSTRACT Software code, algorithms, data analytics and infrastructures have become inseparable from policy processes and modes of governance. This article introduces ‘digital policy sociology’ as a way of studying the role and influence of digital technologies in education policy. Building on existing ‘policy sociology’ approaches combined with emerging insights rom ‘digital sociology’, digital policy sociology extends the analytical gaze to new technical actors – nonhuman software and hardware, as well as human experts, technology companies, and promotional organizations. As a case study exemplar, the analysis focuses on an emerging domain of data-intensive science and technology with significant implications for education policy in the future. ‘Precision education’ is an emerging combination of psychological, neuroscientific and genetic expertise, with a particular emphasis on using advanced computational technologies to produce ‘intimate data’ about students’ bodies and biological associations with learning. These intimate data have potential to become new sources of biological policy knowledge, raising significant methodological and analytical challenges for policy sociology.

Toward a Global Political Sociology of School Choice Policies

This paper on the political sociology of school choice policies has been written as a supplement to the essays in the 2020 Politics of Education Association Yearbook and locates them in cognate literatures. In addition, the papers are situated against the changing political and global contexts of such policies, as global pressures, discourses, and policyscapes have been recently challenged to some extent by the rise of new nationalisms and ethno-nationalism in many nations across the globe. School choice policies are linked with practices of marketization, privatization, and commercialization and some conceptual clarification is proffered. Policy is defined as referring to processes, framing discourses, and specific texts. Statecraft (logics and working of the state) has been reconstituted by these changes, with one important often over-looked element of this craft being scalecraft (work creating the scales of policies), that is, policy work on constituting local, national, regional, and global relationships and scales.

From bake sales to million-dollar school fundraising campaigns: the new inequity

ABSTRACTThis study examines the changing style, scale, and scope of raising private funds to provide resources for public schools. In particular, we focus on school fundraising, especially the role of discourse in scaling up school fundraising practices to facilitate education privatisation. Drawing from Stephen Ball’s policy sociology, and employing Maarten Hajer’s discourse analysis approach, we analyze a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign in one secondary school in a Canadian province. Our analysis shows how a discourse-coalition has emerged around Public Private Partnership Fundraising (PPPF) to legitimise an increasingly privatised effort to fund school infrastructure. In conclusion, we raise questions about the problematic nature of large-scale school fundraising, specifically, its impact on inequality between schools with different levels of community wealth.

Toward an organic policy sociology

AbstractAccording to many, sociology is facing a crisis of relevance. Of particular concern is sociology's inability to impact policy. Sociologists, who should be the go‐to on major policy issues have been sidelined as other social scientists take up roles as policy advisors. Recent efforts aimed at encouraging public engagement have focused on disseminating research and producing more policy‐relevant knowledge. These are welcome resources, but they reflect a deep ambivalence toward policy sociology and a tendency to conflate participation in public discussions with policy impact. In contrast, this essay draws on recent findings about the power of policy experts to develop an organic policy sociology. Organic policy sociology depends on co‐designing and carrying out research with policymakers with whom we share critical and professional commitments. By working collaboratively with policymakers, sociologists can foster equity‐promoting policy, change how policymakers understand social problems, and improve how citizens experience policy on the ground. To that end, I offer six orienting strategies for developing and maintaining organic policy sociology projects, from finding the right partner to assessing the impact of our work.

Langues et identités plurielles en contexte éducatif canadien francophone : comment une langue s’épanouit-elle au travers des mouvements de société ?

Francophones form a distinctive minority context in Canada and, specifically, within Ontario. Preserving their linguistic vitality remains an important concern both on a daily basis and during periods of political tension. While the identity of francophones as a minority group was constructed in relation to anglo-dominant Canadian society, we are now observing increased interactions with several other languages. How can cultural and linguistic diversity be cultivated in a minority context? Is this counter to francophone vitality or can this diversity enhance the minority status of francophones? This article explores how the meaning conveyed to a language is actively transformed through social change. Through textual analysis of the sociology of francophone minority studies and policy documents from the Ontario Ministry of Education, we examine changes leading to the introduction of plurilingualism as a new social category. If it is accepted that certain forms of ambiguity in the policy documents raise contradictions in practice, we suggest that these disjunctures can usher in valuable opportunity for transformation, which may in turn produce an impetus for change in the Franco-Ontarian educational milieu.

Reconceptualising organisational collaborations in social science doctoral education

Empirical social science research increasingly involves working collaboratively with organisations beyond the university. This paper contributes to the growing international literature on doctoral collaboration by exploring how UK doctoral students in the social sciences negotiate organisational collaborations. We draw on narrative interviews and administrative data to create a series of case-study vignettes. We juxtapose these with a theorisation of disciplinary knowledge practices to show how such collaborations are at once demanding and unpredictable, but also generative of new understanding and insights. We suggest that Burawoy’s (American Sociological Review, 70(1), 4–28, 2005) model of the ‘antagonistic interdependence’ of public, critical, professional and policy sociologies is helpful as a heuristic for conceptualising doctoral student experiences of a range of different (and often contradictory) forms of social scientific knowledge. Our analysis demonstrates that both instrumental and critical forms of social knowledge can emerge from organisational partnerships and placements. We call for further attention to the ‘generative paradoxes’ (Bartunek and Rynes Journal of Management, 40(5), 1181–1201, 2014) and ‘reflective entanglements’ (Jagoda 2016) that result from doctoral collaborations, and for doctoral pedagogies that help students use these experiences to develop criticality and see it as a key skill in social research.

‘You’re probably going to catch me out here’: principals’ understandings of inclusion policy in complex times

ABSTRACT In this article, we reveal the complex and contested nature of principals’ understandings of inclusion policy in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drawing upon critical policy sociology, research into inclusion, and interviews with 18 principals from rural, regional and urban areas throughout the state, the research shows how principals expressed a range of absences and uncertainties about the nature of policies pertaining to inclusion. They also tended to refer to a limited range of domains in their understandings of inclusion policy, and conflated different forms of inclusion. While principals exhibited a belief in the importance of including students with a variety of needs in a range of ways, their responses reveal how such inclusive desires can be simultaneously confounded by policy settings characterised by complexity and nebulous conceptions of inclusion. Given the importance of principals in guiding schooling practices in their respective sites, the research argues a need for increased attention to the broader policy conditions within which principals seek to exercise more inclusive practices. It also shows how such conditions need to cultivate a coherent and contextualised understanding of inclusion, rather than simply fostering principal policy enactment as merely ‘coping’.

Silent Non-Exit and Broken Voice. Early Postcommunist Social Policies as Protest-Preempting Strategies

Abstract This essay contributes to the development of an analytical political sociology examination of postcommunist policy pathways and applies such an analysis in a reinterpretation of the social policy pathways taken by Hungary and Poland. During the critical historical juncture of the early 1990s, governments in these new democracies used social policies to proactively create new labor market outsiders (rather than merely accommodate or deal with existing outsiders) in an effort to stifle disruptive repertoires of political voice. Microcollective action theory helps to elucidate how the break-up of hitherto relatively homogeneous clusters of threatened workers into newly competing interest groups shaped the nature of distributive conflict in the formative first decade of these new democracies. In this light, we see how the analytical political sociology of postcommunist social policy can advance and modify current, predominantly Western-oriented theories of insider/outsider conflict and welfare retrenchment policy, and can inform future debates about emerging social policy biases in Eastern Europe.

Sport coaches as policy actors: an investigation of the interpretation and enactment of disability and inclusion policy in swimming in Victoria Australia

ABSTRACTThis paper draws upon education policy sociology, and sport coaching literature, in critically examining sport coaches as policy actors. Stephen Ball and colleagues’ conceptualisation of different policy actor positions and roles provided the framework for research that investigated how eight professional swimming coaches in Victoria, Australia, interpreted and enacted disability and inclusion policy. A discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews with the eight coaches reveals the complexities associated with how and why different coaches interpret and enact disability and inclusion policy imperatives in different ways in their specific club contexts. Data are presented that shows coaches adopting multiple and hybrid policy actor positions and roles as disability and inclusion policy was interpreted, translated and ultimately, expressed as pedagogic rules and practices. Our discussion brings to the fore questions about power, agency and control in coaching, while highlighting both limits and possibilities for the enactment of inclusive disability sport policies by swimming coaches working in Victoria, Australia. In conclusion we suggest that this research illustrates that coaches are capable of enacting social change, and have some agency to do so, but at the same time appear constrained by established discourses that shape policy and give important direction to pedagogic practice. We advocate that further in-depth research is required into the coaching policy-practice nexus, particularly as it relates to the advancement of equity and inclusion.

Constructing political subjectivity: the perspectives of sabbatical officers from English students\u2019 unions

Informed by policy sociology and a Foucauldian theorisation, this article explores how a selection of sabbatical officers from English students’ unions formed their political subjectivity during the policy consultation processes leading to the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Discourse analysis demonstrated a strong influence of the unions’ professional staff members and the National Union of Students on sabbatical officers’ work. In particular, they guided the officers in writing a response to the Government consultation document and lobbying politicians. These actions indicated that the sabbatical officers’ political subjectivity was highly dependent on professional actors and discourses. The shift towards professionalisation, however, received diverse responses from participants. Some perceived it as leading to necessary policy amendments; others were concerned about wider depoliticisation of their role and student movement. The article suggests that the sabbatical officers interviewed operated within a complex network of competing interests, raising questions about (1) whose political agency they enacted and (2) their future opportunities to successfully unite and challenge higher education policy in neoliberal times.

Curriculum interpretation and policy enactment in health and physical education: researching teacher educators as policy actors

ABSTRACTPast research in Health and Physical Education has repeatedly highlighted that curriculum development is an ongoing, complex and contested process, and that the realisation of progressive intentions embedded in official curriculum texts is far from assured. Drawing on concepts from education policy sociology this paper positions teacher educators as key policy actors in the interpretation and enactment of new official curriculum texts. More specifically, it reports research that has explored four teacher educators’ engagement with a specific feature of the new Australian Curriculum in Health and Physical Education (AC HPE); five interrelated propositions or ‘key ideas’ that underpinned the new curriculum and openly sought to provide direction for progressive pedagogy in Health and Physical Education. The paper provides conceptual and empirical insight into teacher educators consciously positioning themselves as policy actors, motivated to play a role in shaping policy directions and future curriculum practices. As such, the teacher educators in this project are identified as policy entrepreneurs and provocateurs. The paper details a dialogic research process between the researchers that was designed to make curriculum interpretation a more transparent, collaborative and generative process. The data reported illustrates the research process supporting teacher educators to engage in productive debate about the possible meanings and enactment of the five propositions. Analysis reveals differing perspectives on the propositions and a shared investment in efforts to support their progressive intent. Empirically, the paper highlights the critical role that teacher educators will play in the ongoing enactment of a new curriculum that is overtly identified as ‘futures oriented’. Conceptually, the paper adds depth and sophistication to understandings of teacher educators as policy actors. Methodologically, we propose that the research process described can be usefully adopted by other teacher educators and teachers engaged in similar processes of curriculum development, interpretation and enactment.

A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: the case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England

ABSTRACT This paper combines tools from policy sociology with those from Critical Race Theory (CRT) to build a framework for a CRT-based education policy analysis, based on a set of questions about the relationship between policy and racial inequalities. Drawing on a case study of assessment policy in England, the paper examines how tools from both bodies of scholarship can be used to interrogate the motivations, results, and assumptions implicit in policy. The policy used as an illustration is the introduction of Baseline Assessment, which was conducted in the first weeks of school at age four/five for the purposes of measuring progress seven years later. This policy failed to take into account the needs of bilingual learners (or children with English as an additional language in UK terminology). It is argued that this absence provides an example of how policy can serve to continue white dominance while appearing neutral and meritocratic.

Educational governance in Nepal: weak government, donor partnership and standardised assessment

ABSTRACT In the context of educational globalisation, the role of supranational organisations in shaping the educational policy decisions, especially of aid-dependent countries, has increased. Using global governance as a theoretical framework and Critical Policy Sociology (CPS) as a methodological framework, this paper analysed key educational policy documents produced by the World Bank (WB) and the Government of Nepal (GON), as well as interviews conducted with 13 key educational planners in Nepal. The analysis found that the nature and scope of educational management has changed because of the shift from traditional government to a new governance mechanism. In this new mechanism, educational governance is shared among international donors, the private sector and the GON. As Nepal’s educational policy decisions are increasingly shaped by international donors, educational strategies recommended by them have shaped Nepal’s educational policy and planning decisions.

Higher Education in Nepal: A Handmaiden of Neoliberal Instrumentalism

Though government funding has shrunk, Nepal’s higher education (HE) sector has expanded in the last three decades in terms of the establishment of new institutions and the implementation of a series of projects funded by the World Bank. Using neoliberal instrumentalism as a theoretical framework and critical policy sociology as a methodological tool, this paper analysed key policy documents produced by the World Bank and the Government of Nepal for implementing three most recent HE projects in Nepal. The paper argues that a new version of human capital theory, which stems from neoliberal instrumentalism in education, has guided HE policies and practices of Nepal. Though a number of reform strategies are implemented with the aim of increasing performance and competition, the HE sector has become increasingly unresponsive to the needs of Nepali communities and societies.

Listening to and Learning from the Perspectives and Experiences of Black and Latinx Students with Disabilities: Examining the Challenges and Contradictions of High-Stakes Testing Policies

This study explores the experiences and perspectives of 15 Black and Latinx students with disabilities as they journeyed through the process of taking and attempting to meet high-stakes testing policies in an urban high school in southern California. Utilizing critical policy sociology and student voice, findings reveal material and structural challenges related to lack of teacher quality, excessive use of substitute teachers, and lack of access to essential course curricula. In addition, contradictions between general and special education policy mandates demonstrate the failure of a one-size-fits-all policy approach that overlooks students’ multidimensional needs. Finally, despite the multiple structural and material challenges students faced, their family and peers played a pivotal role in their preparation both emotionally and academically for the exam. Given these findings, recommendations for policy and practice are offered.

Contribuições de Stephen Ball para o campo das políticas educacionais

In considering the importance of approaches to educational policies that critically analyze the trajectory of social and educational policies in the search to evaluate the results and effects of these policies, notably in the context of neoliberalism, the objective is to discuss the theoretical-analytical method developed by Stephen J. Ball. With focus from the field of of Education or the Sociology of Policies, called Policy Cycle Approach and Theory of policy enactment recognized in Brazil as Theory of interpretation / translation of politics in the context of practice, Stephen Ball made expressive contribution of the approach to discussions in the field of educational policies. To meet the general objective of the research, the theoretical-methodological productions of Prof. Dr. Stephen J. Ball, notably in the 2003 - 2013 decade; the main concepts discussed by the author in the context of the sociology of policies were identified, and content analysis procedures based on Franco (2008) were carried out.

La inclusión deportiva en Colombia: Una mirada desde los actores. Estudio de caso

Las políticas públicas en Colombia presentan avances en su diseño e implementación en relación con discapacidad, específicamente las relacionadas con el derecho a la salud, la educación y el trabajo, en términos de inclusión. No obstante, en relación con la actividad física y el deporte se presentan deficiencias en su implementación. Por tanto, se hace necesario reconocer cuales son las percepciones de los deportistas con discapacidad, acerca del proceso de inclusión deportiva, los facilitadores, las barreras y las políticas públicas que se han diseñado e implementado. Desde el paradigma de las ciencias sociales, basado en la sociología del deporte y las políticas públicas,se realizó una revisión documental y entrevistas a profundidad a deportistas con discapacidad física de la Liga de la ciudad de Bogotá. Se identificó la presencia de políticas públicas a nivel nacional que permiten desarrollar acciones para la inclusión deportiva desde Coldeportes y el sistema paralímpico colombiano; sin embargo, para los deportistas, estas no son claras. La red de apoyo primaria para la inclusión deportiva continúa siendo la familia y las barreras están relacionadas con los imaginarios de la discapacidad, que generan barreras actitudinales desde la sociedad. En el deporte la exclusión por género y el poco apoyo de los medios de comunicación al deporte paralimpico, siguen estando presentes el país.

Operationalization of the „smart“ city concept on the example of Serbia

The subject of this paper is the operationalization of the concept of ?smart? city in all dimensions - characteristics (smart people, smart economy, smart living, smart management, smart mobility and smart environment), on the example of cities in Serbia. The aim is to explain the use of the concept of ?smart? city for the purpose of ranking of middle-sized cities in Serbia, modeled by the use of this concept in the ranking of European middle-sized cities. This goal will be realized by a comparison of indicators used for ranking cities in Europe and Serbia, as well as a detailed overview of selected indicators and their use in the ranking of cities in Serbia. One should bear in mind that the concept of ?smart? city is treated as the ideal type, in relation to which it should be estimated how and in what way medium-sized cities in Serbia are far from this ideal type. The contribution of this paper is twofold - in theoretical terms, within the framework of sociology, for the first time a discussion on the concept of ?smart? city opens, and in practical terms, this concept is operationalized for the first time for the purpose of ranking mediumsized cities in Serbia. In this way the multidisciplinary concept is being introduced in the domestic sociology of space and sociology of public policy.

Critical policy sociology: key underlying assumptions and their implications for educational policy research

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, educational policy researchers have considered critical policy sociology, mostly known as ‘policy sociology’, as a useful research methodology for analysing educational policies. However, despite its increasing popularity, policy sociology has been a confusing concept hence it is often used interchangeably with other terms such as policy analysis. In the main, there is a dearth of literature outlining its key underlying assumptions and how this methodology helps policy researchers to analyse social, political and economic issues related to educational policy. By reviewing current body of literature in the field, this paper identifies policy sociology as one of the four major traditions in the policy analysis field. The paper presents six key underlying assumptions of policy sociology – value based study, political study, historical study, multidisciplinary study, assemblage study, and discourse study – and discusses how researchers have used policy sociology as a research methodology for analysing educational policies.

‘Widening Access’ to higher education: the reproduction of university hierarchies through policy enactment

Patterns of participation in higher education (HE) in the UK, as elsewhere, have been marked by social inequalities for decades. UK Governments have responded with a plethora of policies and agendas aimed at addressing this broad social issue. However, little is known about how higher education institutions (HEIs) interpret and ‘enact’ these policies in relation to institution-specific contexts. Drawing on concepts from policy sociology this paper examines how HEIs in one nation state, Wales, enact its Government’s policy on ‘widening access’ to higher education. Interviews with a range of ‘policy actors’ along with analyses of institutional ‘widening access’ policy documents, reveal divergences between HEIs in how this policy agenda is interpreted and delivered. These differences reflect institution-specific contexts – not least their internal politics and assumptions about the type of students they admit, but also their interests and priorities in relation to their positions within a global, marketised, HE system. The implications of this for the reproduction of university hierarchies in the UK, as well as social inequalities more generally are brought to the fore.