Representations of the social in UK higher education policy & personalist alternatives

This thesis aims to contribute to a personalist approach to policy. First, it covers representations of the social and by implication the person in third way approaches from New Labour to Conservative policy. To empirically demonstrate what views of the person exist, a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is conducted in the area of higher education governance. The argument put forward is that a view of the social and person exists in higher education governance and this affects policy proposals and initiatives. Thus, it is viewed necessary to present an explicit view of the person that then informs alternative policy directions. For this purpose, the work of Margaret Archer is utilised but with some revisions proposed. The argued realist model of personhood presented is then adopted as the basis of a relational policy direction defined by a homo relatus conception of personhood.