ABSTRACT
Chapter Four focuses on participants’ attitudes towards and experiences of science. I discuss participants’ dispositions towards (or in this case, away from) science and I argue that these were shaped by structural inequalities. I tell the stories of three participants – Mr Bhakta from the Asian group, Ibrahim from the Sierra Leonean group and Fatima from the Somali group – to show in more detail the effects of structural inequalities on peoples lives and their relationships with science. These three participants stood out from their friends and families because each liked science and tried to pursue it in their own ways. But in a system rigged against them, an interest in science was not enough to unlock science learning or science careers. I argue that we must understand participants shared dispositions against science as structured by systematic inequalities that cut across their experiences of science in ways that are pernicious and enduring.
