TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘I have a sense that it's probably quite bad … but because I don't see it, I don't know’

T2 - staff perspectives on ‘lad culture’ in higher education

AU - Jackson, Carolyn Patricia

AU - Sundaram, Vanita

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Gender and Education on 15/08/2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09540253.2018.1501006

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Masculinities

KW - violence

KW - higher education

KW - men

KW - qualitative interviews

U2 - 10.1080/09540253.2018.1501006

DO - 10.1080/09540253.2018.1501006

M3 - Journal article

VL - 33

SP - 435

EP - 450

JO - Gender and Education

JF - Gender and Education

SN - 0954-0253

IS - 4

ER -