ABSTRACT
Within the UK government’s ongoing commitment to widen participation in higher education, particular emphasis has been placed on tackling the underrepresentation of (white) working-class men (McGivney 1999; NCIHE 1997). This moral panic continues to garner popular, policy and media attention (e.g. ‘Where have all the young men gone?’ Berliner 2004) as women’s participation rates increase at a faster rate than their male counterparts – despite the fact that working-class women are still (also) severely under-represented within HE (Robertson and Hillman 1997). Indeed, there is little popular recognition that, in general, working-class and minority ethnic students continue to be concentrated within less prestigious institutions and subject areas and (along with women) seem to earn less on graduation than their middle-class, white (and male) counterparts (Audas and Dolton 1999). Furthermore, the specific concern with white working-class men’s participation also hides patterns of under-representation among other groups of men, such as African Caribbean and Bangladeshi young men.
