Lmst

If you’d like to sign the petition calling on the UK government to amend the Equality Act 2010 to make social class a protected characteristic, you can do so here:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/752554

#class #SocialClass #EqualityAct #ClassMatters #UKPolitics #classwar #ClassCeiling #DefundCulture #WorkingClass

The print copes of Defund Culture: A Radical Proposal arrived today:

https://www.mediastudies.press/defund-culture-a-radical-proposal

The #book is published by mediastudies.press, and is available #openaccess under the CC4r (Collective Conditions for Re-Use commitment), so you don’t need to pay to download and read a copy.

It's also feels particularly timely in light of recent discussions around #class and #representation including the Class Ceiling report that came out the other week:

https://www.riseassociates.co.uk/downloads/ClassCeiling-Digital.pdf

And the #BBC review by Anne Morrison and Chris Banatvala, which highlight how it remains London-centric and skewed towards #middleclass

https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/thematic-review-of-portrayal-and-representation.pdf

#culturewar #classwar #ClassCeiling #DefundCulture
#ArtsAndCulture #WorkingClass
#media #london #universities
#he #academic #academia

Book cover, consisting of a photo of London's South Bank Arts Centre area.

The Class Ceiling report warns that, as entrenched inequality and exclusion continue to shape the UK’s cultural output, what it calls a growing ‘class crisis’ poses a unique threat to Greater Manchester:

https://www.riseassociates.co.uk/downloads/ClassCeiling-Digital.pdf

‘Bit by bit, the rungs that helped a galaxy of working class talent climb to the top in years gone by, have been kicked out of the ladder. Bursaries, grants, affordable space, grassroots venues and a commissioning mindset that championed working class talent are all under threat.'

Grim.

#ClassCeiling #DefundCulture #ArtsAndCulture #Class #classwar #GreaterManchester #WorkingClass

Annual statistics on young people's participation in higher education released by the Department for Education show that the proportion of disadvantaged teenagers going on to study at university by the age of 19 declined for the first time in the academic year 2022-2023.

It’s true that 'selective' universities have raised their intake of A-level students to 38.2%. But this increase has been outpaced by an even faster rise in the proportion of private school students, who were almost twice as likely as state school students to secure places at these institutions.

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/widening-participation-in-higher-education/2022-23

#education #class #classwar #defundculture #university

1/2 As recently as 2017, research revealed that half of Britain's poets and novelists came from private schools, with 44% having attended Oxbridge. Addressing issues of EDI and social mobility, however, isn't just about rethinking how places at private schools and Oxbridge are allocated.

For instance, Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman in their new book Born To Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite, suggest reducing the proportion of privately educated UK undergraduates at Oxbridge from the current 30% to a more representative 10%. But this approach risks continuing to uphold the prestige of these institutions. As A Stubborn Fury: How Writing Works in Elitist Britain argued, such measures might also merely lead to Britain’s elitist, anti-intellectual culture persisting – just with more women, northerners and people of colour now being able to participate in it.

http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/a-stubborn-

#education #class #classwar #culture #defundculture #writing #publishing