University of the West of England, Stoke Gifford, England
Saturday 3 October • 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Organised by University of Hertfordshire and University of the West of England and supported by Intellect Press
A collaboration between the University of Hertfordshire, the University of the West of England and Intellect Press, this is the fourth Journal of Class & Culture conference. From its first issue, the journal has been a provocative theoretical and empirical intervention into debates concerning class and culture. We reject the rendering of class as an archaic concept and instead engage with it as a dynamic category, actively shaped by the changing demands of capitalism.
This conference brings together working-class academics, practitioners, and researchers working across a range of disciplines, spanning education and the wider public sector. It recognises the experience, values, and knowledge of the working class as a means of challenging and unsettling dominant orthodoxies.
We approach class from both historical and contemporary perspectives, engaging with everyday life and with subjects and events that might seem insignificant or disconnected. Viewed through the lens of class, these reveal much about the societies in which we live.
We welcome anyone, especially those with lived experience of the conference themes, individuals or groups wanting to learn more about issues related to class and culture, and those keen to imagine a more positive future for the working class.
This is also an opportunity to meet the editors and discuss ideas for contributions to the journal, as well as ways to take it forward. Intellect will also be in attendance and are keen to commission book proposals from anyone interested.
This is a free event.
Event Programme
09:30-10:00 – Coffee and Welcome
10:00-11:15 – Panel One – The Working Class and Higher Education (Chair: Michael Wayne)
- Dr Craig Johnston – University Lecturers’ Understandings of Social Class and Knowledge Redistribution in Higher Education
- Mia Taylor-Seal – Working-class students in HE between 1988-2002.
- Dr Teresa Crew – Precarities, perspectives and progress- what working class voices tell us about Higer education
11:15-11:45 – Quick coffee break
11:45- 13:00 – Panel Two – Class and the Creative industries (Chair: Rob Francis)
- Dr Kat Flint-Nicol –Class, feminism, and The Style Council (melancholia and class!)
- Dr Michael Pierse – Class tensions in Flann O’Brien’s mid-century satires
- other speakerT-BC
13:00-13:45 – Lunch Break
13:45 -15:00 Panel Three – Barriers (Chair: Gavin_Brewis)
- Prof Richard Waller and Dr Ciaran Burke – ‘There’s kind of only four options, there’s apprenticeship, uni, job or just sitting at home.’: Investigating choices and barriers facing young people at risk of becoming NEETs
- Mat McHale – Cutting Class: Class, Power and Representation in UK Television Drama Production
- Laura Pidcock – Barriers to working class political involvement
15:00-15:30 – Coffee/Tea break
15:30-16:45- Panel 4 Women, Prison and Class-(Chair: Craig Johnston)
- Janey Starling – Why Women end up in Prison
- Elisa Vasquez-Walters –How women end up in prison
- Other speaker TBC
17:00-17:30 – Summing up
18:30 – Free Film Screening at Design West: Before These Walls: a documentary about life before prison for women. (Deirdre O’Neill & Mike Wayne 2026). A private preview screening of this new documentary film.
20:00 – Dinner and drinks at the Watershed
Contact for questions
d.oneill3@herts.ac.uk and C.Johnston@uwe.ac.uk
Event accessibility
UWE Bristol welcomes all abilities, disabilities, ages, ethnicities, and genders to our events. If you have any questions, concerns or additional requirements then please let us know by emailing C.Johnston@uwe.ac.uk so that we can make your time at this event as comfortable as possible.
- Disabled parking: Yes (limited spaces, please specify when booking)
- Step-free access: Yes
- Accessible toilets: Yes
- Assisted Listening: Yes
- Captioning: Yes
- Guide/assistance dog-friendly: Yes
- Quiet spaces available: Yes
You can reserve a spot here.
