ABSTRACT

Drawing together example studies from international contexts, this edited collection provides a new and cross-disciplinary perspective on the concept of the possible self, exploring its theoretical, methodological and empirical uses with regards to Higher Education. Building on research which examines the ways in which possible selves are constructed through inequalities of class, race and gender, the book interrogates the role of imagined futures in student, professional and academic lives, augmenting the concept of possible selves, with its origins in psychology, with sociological approaches to educational inequalities and exclusionary practices.

Possible Selves and Higher Education considers both the theoretical and methodological frameworks behind the concept of possible selves; the first section includes chapters that consider different theoretical insights, while the second section offers empirical examples, exploring how the possible selves concept has been used in many diverse higher education research contexts. With each chapter considering a different aspect of the structural barriers to or within education, the examples provided range from the experiences of students and teachers in the language learning classroom, to graduates entering employment for the first time, and refugees seeking to rebuild lives through engagement with education.

Offering a broad and diverse examination of how concepts of our future selves can affect and limit educational outcomes, this book furthers the sociological dialogue concerning the relationship between individual agency and structural constraints in higher education research. It is an essential and influential text for both students and academics, as well as anyone responsible for student services such as outreach and widening participation.

chapter 1|9 pages

Introduction

Why possible selves and higher education?

section 1|46 pages

Theorising possible selves

chapter 3|14 pages

Borrowed time

A sociological theorisation of possible selves and educational subjectivities

section 2|93 pages

Using the possible selves concept empirically

chapter 6|15 pages

Shaping possible selves

The role of family in constructing higher education futures for students with dyslexia

chapter 7|18 pages

Unintended imaginings

The difficult dimensions of possible selves

chapter 8|16 pages

Transitions from higher education to employment among recent graduates in England

Unequal chances of achieving desired possible selves

chapter 9|23 pages

Imagining a future

Refugee women, possible selves and higher education