‘I have a sense that it's probably quite bad … but because I don't see it, I don't know’: staff perspectives on ‘lad culture’ in higher education

Concerns have been voiced about lad cultures in UK universities for approximately five years. The National Union of Students has been especially vocal in airing concerns, which more recently have been taken up by universities through bodies such as Universities UK. A small amount of work has explored students’ perspectives about, and experiences of, laddism. That research suggests that lad culture is particularly associated with groups of men in social contexts and involves excessive alcohol consumption, rowdy behaviour, sexism, homophobia, sexual harassment and violence. This paper is the first to explore staff perspectives: we draw on data from interviews with 72 staff across 6 universities to explore their perceptions of lad culture, including its prevalence, the contexts in which it occurs and the forms it takes. We argue that perceptions about the prevalence of lad culture are strongly influenced by how it is conceptualised and, relatedly, to whom it is visible.