The ‘self‐interested’ woman academic: a consideration of Beck's model of the ‘individualised individual’

Abstract The work of Ulrich Beck, particularly his concept of the 'individualised individual', is increasingly cited by educational social scientists. As yet, there have been few empirical investigations that consider how applicable and relevant is the notion of the 'individualised individual' in understanding how people make sense of their lives (for an exception, see Reay, Citation2003). This paper considers Beck's assertion that social class is of increasingly less importance as society shifts from a first to a second modernity. Interviews were carried out into the career experiences of a group of academic women working in higher education institutions. The conclusions reached suggest that if Beck's theory is to be useful in understanding contemporary actors in contemporary societies then the critical concepts he introduces need to be articulated by researchers in more complex ways. Acknowledgements The author is grateful to the two reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. Notes * School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, University of Newcastle, Joseph Cowen House, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. Email: Christine.Skelton@ncl.ac.uk It is beyond the confines of this essay to foreground the educational context of this paper (see Arnot et al., 1999; Morley, 1999; Brooks & Mackinnon, 2001). It needs to be taken into account, however, that identifying the specific time period when a particular (Western) world societal, economic and cultural change is taking place is fraught with problems It should be recognized that there are alternative readings of Beck's thesis but there is not the space to discuss these here. A useful starting point is Beck (Citation2000b). Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristine Skelton Footnote* * School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, University of Newcastle, Joseph Cowen House, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. Email: Christine.Skelton@ncl.ac.uk