Raiding the inarticulate since 2010

accelerated academy acceleration agency AI Algorithmic Authoritarianism and Digital Repression archer Archive Archiving artificial intelligence automation Becoming Who We Are Between Post-Capitalism and Techno-Fascism big data blogging capitalism ChatGPT claude Cognitive Triage: Practice, Culture and Strategies Communicative Escalation and Cultural Abundance: How Do We Cope? Corporate Culture, Elites and Their Self-Understandings craft creativity critical realism data science Defensive Elites Digital Capitalism and Digital Social Science Digital Distraction, Personal Agency and The Reflexive Imperative Digital Elections, Party Politics and Diplomacy digital elites Digital Inequalities Digital Social Science Digital Sociology digital sociology Digital Universities elites Fragile Movements and Their Politics Cultures generative AI higher education Interested labour Lacan Listening LLMs margaret archer Organising personal morphogenesis Philosophy of Technology platform capitalism platforms Post-Democracy, Depoliticisation and Technocracy post-truth psychoanalysis public engagement public sociology publishing Reading realism reflexivity scholarship sexuality Shadow Mobilization, Astroturfing and Manipulation Social Media Social Media for Academics social media for academics social ontology social theory sociology technology The Content Ecosystem The Intensification of Work theory The Political Economy of Digital Capitalism The Technological History of Digital Capitalism Thinking trump twitter Uncategorized work writing zizek

Education, Employment and Social Mobility: what is really going on and what can be done?

University of Greenwich Business School Work and Employment Research Unit Seminar Series
Wednesday 13 February 2013, 2 – 6p.m.
EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL MOBILITY: WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON AND WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Ken Roberts (Liverpool) ‘The real trend in social mobility: from upwards to downwards’
Lefteris Kretsos (Greenwich) ‘The persistent pandemic of Work Precariousness and Insecurity’
Martin Allen (NUT) and Patrick Ainley (Greenwich) on ‘Too Great Expectations of Education’*

Plenary/ summing up: Ian Greer (Greenwich); Liam Burns, (President NUS)
Chair: Maria Papapolydorou (Greenwich)

Return to economic growth is increasingly uncertain and for many people living standards continue to fall. Official figures in late 2012 showed more people than ever employed but often this is only part-time or in other precarious forms of employment, such as contracting and outsourcing. The UK unemployment rate remains over 2.5 million, while the situation is much worse in many other parts of Europe. Young people particularly find themselves ‘overqualified and underemployed’ as social mobility goes into reverse and the occupational class structure goes ‘pear shaped’. Rather than more occupations being ‘professionalised’, previously skilled and professional work is being ‘proletarianised’. According to several studies, not only is the current generation of young people likely to be worse off than their parents, but it is increasingly forced to depend upon them – living at home well beyond what is generally regarded as the period of ‘youth’. These are global trends for which the solution is usually restricted to greater investment in education, training and in employability schemes (apprenticeships, internships, employer subsidies, coaching and financial support for self-employment, etc.). Many still assume that ‘we can educate our way out of recession’ and so demand more resources and a greater commitment to increasing education. At the same time, governments make more demands on education, particularly schools, expecting them to solve the youth crisis or at least to compensate for major failures elsewhere in economy and society.

This day seminar seeks an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the issues faced by young people that result in problematic transitions to employment and adulthood. It further aims to examine the role of education in the context of the current economic and social crisis. The seminar is relevant to all those who work with young people as well as those involved in research into labour markets and precarious employment, education systems and youth studies. There will be presentations but also plenty of time for discussion and lively debate.

* Patrick and Martin will also launch their new e-book: The Great Reversal, young people, education and employment in a declining economy.

Hamilton House, 15 Park Vista, London SE10 9LZ

(Nearest Rail Maze Hill or DLR Cutty Sark Station, several buses and adjacent parking or come by boat/ Thames Clipper to Greenwich Pier.)