Close menu

SURE

Sunderland Repository records the research produced by the University of Sunderland including practice-based research and theses.

The makings of an exclusive community: students’ perceptions of dangerous others

Roberts, Nicola (2023) The makings of an exclusive community: students’ perceptions of dangerous others. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, 85 (4(81)). pp. 539-553. ISSN 0018-1560

Item Type: Article

Abstract

Contemporarily, universities are perceived as neoliberal entities, self-absorbed, driven by corporate interests, markets and economic goals, rather than perceived as providing a public good, concerned for the wider world (del Cerro Santamaria 2020). This perception of universities as individualised communities rather than collective communities (Rousseau 2020), accentuates the responsibilisation of individuals who are viewed as responsible for solving their own problems (Martinez and Garcia 2000), including ensuring their own safety (Garland 1996). Set against this social-political backdrop, this paper, using data from an online survey about students’ perceptions of on-campus safety at a university in the north of England, shows how some students, particularly women students, view others as dangerous, rather than view them as vulnerable groups who are residing on the margins of an inequitable society. The porous borders of the university campuses amplify some students’ perceptions of
dangerous others and students’ suggestions for Campus Security to keep out such others arguably serve to aggravate rather than relieve their perceptions of unsafety. Yet the porous borders of the campuses should be seen as advantageous because an ecological university can connect its students to the wider world to help facilitate care for the other (Barnett 2018). In doing so, this may enhance students’ own sense of well-being and safety in the urban environment. This is a timely argument amidst a global pandemic, where the university restricts access to unauthorised others, and in doing so, facilitates the makings of an exclusive community.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Manuscript JHE 2 submit un-blinded with table.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (354kB) | Preview

More Information

Uncontrolled Keywords: Neoliberalism Ecological university Students’ perceptions of safety Dangerous others Campus security
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Nicola Roberts

Identifiers

Item ID: 14694
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00850-8
ISSN: 0018-1560
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/14694
Official URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-0...

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for Nicola Roberts: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2619-1346

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 25 Apr 2022 10:16
Last Modified: 01 May 2023 02:38

Contributors

Author: Nicola Roberts ORCID iD

University Divisions

Faculty of Education and Society > School of Social Sciences

Subjects

Social Sciences > Criminology

Actions (login required)

View Item (Repository Staff Only) View Item (Repository Staff Only)