ERIC Number: EJ1182940
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0159-6306
EISSN: N/A
"Social Life for Sale!" A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Concept of Student Life on Danish University Websites
Svendsen, Jesper Tinggaard; Svendsen, Annemari Munk
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, v39 n4 p642-663 2018
This paper aims to investigate the marketization of higher education (HE) as it manifests itself in the concept of "Student life" on Danish HE websites. Taking Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis as its starting point, this paper critically examines this particular practice of marketization by making a single-case study of the pages called "Student life" at the biggest university in Denmark, Copenhagen University (CU). The findings show that these page elements of social life are intensively and routinely used to soften up the more demanding aspects of being a university student, and that this involves a significant positive evaluation of life as a university student. The paper addresses the potential problems related to the findings in order to contribute to further discussion and reflection upon issues centred around the marketization of HE on university websites and around the construction of what it means to be a student today.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Discourse Analysis, Student Experience, Social Life, College Students, Universities, Web Sites, Commercialization, Marketing, Case Studies, Student Surveys, Content Analysis, Films
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Denmark
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A