Student Identity and Political Agency : Activism, Representation and Consumer Rights

Examining the intersections of education, sociology and politics, Student Identity and Political Agency provides a unique, research-informed account of the student experience in a contemporary higher education setting. By drawing on current societal context, this book has a two-fold aim: to unpack and discuss student identity in higher education, and to identify opportunities to influence positive educational and social change.

This essential text encourages readers to critically examine and explore:

• the marketisation and massification of higher education,
• the homogenising model of consumerism in higher education and the impact this holds upon the diversity of the student population,
• the positioning of youth and student-hood in our higher education systems,
• past and present forms of student political agency – protest, unionism and consumer rights – in an attempt to influence positive change.

Informed by recent research, this is a crucial read for academics and researchers who specialise in the field of student identity and experience, or, more broadly, in higher education transformations. This book provides a timely and academically rigorous account of contemporary student identity and agency in the global context of higher education.