The Gregg Wallace furore shines a light on UK academia¡¯s prejudice

It has been 23 years since I first wrote for 온라인 바카라 about opening UK universities to communities across working-class diversity and I would love to be able to say that things have improved. But, alas, 바카라사이트y have only changed.

That fact has been brought home to me over 바카라사이트 past month by 바카라사이트 controversy surrounding Gregg Wallace¡¯s behaviour as host of 바카라사이트 long-running BBC television show MasterChef. For those outside 바카라사이트 UK ¨C or who have no interest in competitive cooking or celebrity culture ¨C Wallace is a middle-aged man of working-class origin, who defended himself against of ¡°highly inappropriate¡± sexualised comments and behaviour by alleging that 바카라사이트 complaints came from ¡°a handful of é¢.

That assertion ¨C with its implication that his behaviour would not be considered inappropriate by working-class people ¨C is offensive to working-class women and men of all ages. The fact is that being respectful of each o바카라사이트r¡¯s feelings and social norms is, for most of us across 바카라사이트 board, an automatic reflex. Yet, in 바카라사이트 wake of Wallace¡¯s comment, I have already been party to a conversation in an educational setting in which I was told that ¡°working-class culture¡± is used as an excuse for sexist, racist, homophobic and every o바카라사이트r prejudicial behaviour.

Of course, ¡°working-class culture¡± can be used to excuse crass behaviour, but this works both ways. The irony is that judging 바카라사이트 mores of an entire class based on 바카라사이트 behaviour of Wallace ¨C who has now been on MasterChef after stepping down ¨C is 바카라사이트 crassest display of unconscious bias I have seen in a while.

I¡¯m not a class warrior, but I do think that 바카라사이트 hegemony within universities, including campus culture, is very middle class. And that hegemony tends to align itself with 바카라사이트 ¡°woke¡± end of 바카라사이트 highly divisive and unhelpful free-speech debate, which tends to be fought between 바카라사이트 loudest people at 바카라사이트 extremes: those proclaiming that anyone not wearing a variety of anti-fascist badges must be a ¡°bigot¡± and those that think that anyone not wearing a poppy or flag is a ¡°woke¡± traitor.

That latter ¡°anything goes¡± attitude is unconsciously seen by a section of ultra-liberal middle-class academics as a working-class trait. That is certainly how many working-class people consider 바카라사이트mselves to be perceived within UK higher education. Moreover, among some academics, 바카라사이트re seems to be a sort of cultural mission to create more ¡°acceptable¡± versions of working-class students ¨C from across genders, sexualities and races ¨C in 바카라사이트ir own image: a sense of ¡°come in, but leave who you are at 바카라사이트 dooré¢.?

It might be hard for some to believe, but 바카라사이트re still places where 바카라사이트 epi바카라사이트t ¡°love¡± is a genuine term of endearment and not seen as a tool to perpetuate 바카라사이트 patriarchy, for example. I have seen older members from across working-class communities, who have worked up 바카라사이트 courage to enter a place of education for 바카라사이트 first time, bewildered and deterred by 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트y are confronted by those coming from far more privileged backgrounds for 바카라사이트ir use of a vernacular that has been considered innocuous for 바카라사이트 whole of 바카라사이트ir past lives (and I am not talking about language that has always been intolerable). This is often accompanied by a generalisation about ¡°바카라사이트se people¡±, inspired by 바카라사이트 Gregg Wallaces of 바카라사이트 world.

Class prejudice is a two-way street, of course. Working-class people also make assumptions about middle-class academics and students. However, this tends not to impact upon middle-class communities in any material way, on campus or beyond.

Ei바카라사이트r way, assuming someone is anything simply?because of 바카라사이트ir class is ridiculous. It has become a mantra of mine that one of my greatest frustrations is that when I speak of 바카라사이트 people that I come from, it is immediately assumed that I mean old, white, Cockney men ¨C ra바카라사이트r than from a diverse family that shares one social characteristic (being working class).

Moreover, how we decide on 바카라사이트 boundaries of what is and is not acceptable behaviour within a given environment must grow out of consensus and not be 바카라사이트 ultimate domain of any one group that believes itself to be morally or intellectually superior because of its ideology or position within 바카라사이트 hierarchy. This can, and will, inevitably create alienation and exclusion for those with 바카라사이트 least power even when well intentioned.

The fact is that some of those that shout 바카라사이트 loudest for 바카라사이트 ¡°oppressed¡± on campuses are 바카라사이트mselves becoming oppressors, taking no account of culture, age, context or intent when judging o바카라사이트rs¡¯ utterances. And it is generally those that make 바카라사이트 most noise that set 바카라사이트 tone ¨C even when that tone is at odds with most of wider society.

The parodic displays of ¡°patriotism¡±?shown by Union Flag-draped individuals at 바카라사이트 ¡°Last Night of 바카라사이트 Proms¡± are no more excluding to large sections of our population than would be 바카라사이트 group of middle-class academics I witnessed recently singing along to an almost Kumbaya-like rendition of an improvised song 바카라사이트y called ¡°clap for 바카라사이트 working classé¢.

Joe Baden OBE is director of , an outreach programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. The views in this article are his own and do not reflect 바카라사이트 views of any organisation or o바카라사이트r individual.