Sol Gamsu

Sol Gamsu

@solgamsu.bsky.social

Sociologist/sociologue/soziologe of education (elites, geographies, social mobility, dreaming/fighting for another education). Union rep UCU: organising in various capacities. Working/living in Durham/Newcastle mostly. https://linksta.cc/@Sol%20Gamsu

1.4K followers1.7K following822 posts

Pinned

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

What effect do private schools have on school segregation by social class in the UK? Our paper in @edreview.bsky.social answers this. Segregation fell by about 20% in England, Scotland and Wales when we removed private schools from our calculations. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.comThe secret garden of school segregation in the UK: private schools, social class and geographySocio-economic segregation in UK schools has primarily been explored through analysing Free School Meals (FSM) as a marker of deprivation. By incorporating data on social class and private schools,...

Sol Gamsu reposted

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

"We argue that the absence of class consciousness amongst contemporary academics is significant to conditions of socio-political paralysis" doi.org/10.1080/0266...

doi.orgA third space of resistance and resilience: struggles in praxis for adult Learner-TeachersThe contemporary university is, to borrow Giroux’s descriptor, a disimagination machine, suppressing dissent and denying democracy. It’s a site of trauma and dissonance for many working within it, ...

Sol Gamsu reposted

David Gilbert
@davidgilbert.bsky.social

"Nothing of this scale has been seen in the United States, experts say, since the federal government’s counterinsurgency against the New Left and the anti-war movement in the 1960s and 1970s." Incredible reporting here from @awinston.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/ice-is...

wired.comICE Is Running One of the Largest Anti-Left Surveillance Operations in US HistoryICE’s Homeland Security Investigations is engaged in far-reaching spying against left-wing activists that rivals the FBI and CIA crackdowns on the Civil Rights and anti-war movements.
Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Perhaps I'm overly cynical here and things are being done in good faith, I'm too burnt by that not being the case in the past. We'll see either way.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

You wait for ages and then two come along at once. Another reminder of the importance of student organising and power and the waves of political organising that can ripple out from student activism. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

theguardian.comSerbian leader Aleksandar Vučić ousted by student movement in seismic electionVučić’s 12-year reign looks to have been ended by record turnout of voters in election provoked by student-led protests
Sol Gamsu@solgamsu.bsky.social

Four letter words of relief this morning. Solidarity! www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

theguardian.comBrazil runoff live updates: world leaders congratulate Lula on historic election win as Bolsonaro refuses to concedeLeftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated the far-right senator and was elected president of Brazil for a fourth non-consecutive term

Sol Gamsu reposted

Dr. Aaron Thierry
@thierryaaron.bsky.social

"...we cannot be confident that temperature decline after #overshoot is achievable within the timescales expected today. Only rapid near-term emission reductions are effective in reducing climate risks."

nature.comOverconfidence in climate overshoot - NatureAiming for declining global temperatures can limit long-term climate risks compared with a mere stabilization of global warming, including sea-level rise and cryosphere changes.

Sol Gamsu reposted

Saul Staniforth
@saulstaniforth.bsky.social

"He promised change, he promised something very different from Keir Starmer, & if he doesn't deliver eventually something very different from Keir Starmer then he's going to be in trouble" Neal Lawson from Compass on Andy Burnham & next weeks budget

Sol Gamsu reposted

flyingrodent
@flyingrodent.bsky.social

Replying to @flyingrodent.bsky.social

Concepts like “civilian” and “military” do not apply here. Israeli soldiers cannot be military targets, no matter what they are doing, and there are in practice no non-combatant Palestinians.

Sol Gamsu reposted

flyingrodent
@flyingrodent.bsky.social

Things to note here: if two guys attack and kill soldiers, you can just announce “a major offensive” against entire neighbourhoods and towns, even if you are an occupying power. Are there good, admirable historical examples of this kind of behaviour?

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

How do we turn the tide of mass national redundancies? With a podcast apparently and not any coordinated national action, and definitely not action organised and voted for by branches via the recent Special HE sector conf. Tune in to hear the 4D chess gurus of ucu trades unionism/social media.

University and College Union (UCU)@ucu.org.uk

How do we turn the tide on the crisis facing higher education? The second episode of UCU’s No Shortcuts podcast explores the fight to defend jobs and courses, the power of collective action, and how we build a united movement for the future of higher education. Watch now: youtu.be/OeGb94pWRKw?...

youtu.beNo Shortcuts - A UCU Podcast | Episode 2YouTube video by UCU - University and College Union

Sol Gamsu reposted

Margot Finn
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Replying to @eicathomefinn.bsky.social

Half of student loan fraud is associated with for-profit franchises although only 10% of students are taught by franchises. Do the maths. Don't penalise universities if graduates don't go into good jobs when the labour market lacks sufficient good jobs for them to go into.

Sol Gamsu reposted

Margot Finn
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

If there are only "pockets of poor provision" why doesn't OfS just focus on the pockets? One in 10 students are now taught by a for-profit franchise; students taught on these programmes have worse outcomes than students on the universities validating the franchise degrees. Focus on franchising.

giftarticle.ft.comPoor-quality degrees ‘tarnish’ reputation of English universities, regulator warnsOffice For Students warns outcomes were worse than for students attending sponsoring institutions

Sol Gamsu reposted

Saul Staniforth
@saulstaniforth.bsky.social

"Almost 9m people.. are at risk of needing a food bank.. that includes 2.9m children.. 1 in 5 people saying there household has run out of food & couldn't afford to buy more.." As one food bank user explains: "The gap between what we earn & what we need is ever increasing" #GMB

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Counted up the number of journal reviews I've done. About 50 since 2016. 5 per year. Enjoyed alot of them. It's a privilege in many ways. Also a largely thankless and unacknowledged task which the sort of people who look at promotions are unlikely to care about 🤷

View full thread
Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Another time early on, I was asked to give feedback on a paper going to a big journal. I did. I suggested literature they'd missed that I knew & had written about in my PhD, sent my PhD & even spoke on the phone. I heard nothing, then 6 months later they ask for more feedback.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

In the meantime more authors had been added to the paper. I took a look at the revised paper. They'd cherrypicked the references I'd suggested and hadn't even bother to acknowledge my feedback/thesis. I did raise this & they amended it. Worse things happen but it left me with a bitter taste.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Counted up the number of journal reviews I've done. About 50 since 2016. 5 per year. Enjoyed alot of them. It's a privilege in many ways. Also a largely thankless and unacknowledged task which the sort of people who look at promotions are unlikely to care about 🤷

View full thread
Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Also I have seen some terrible peer reviews from the other reviewers. One of the first reviews I did I carefully wrote a page or so of feedback on a not very good paper. The other reviewer simply wrote "I wanted to like this paper, unfortunately I was disappointed."

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Another time I was reviewing a paper by what I was fairly sure was an ECR. It was a good idea but with some serious issues. I mentioned this to someone who said I could always reject it and write the paper myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I reminded them of this later they said it had been "a joke"

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Counted up the number of journal reviews I've done. About 50 since 2016. 5 per year. Enjoyed alot of them. It's a privilege in many ways. Also a largely thankless and unacknowledged task which the sort of people who look at promotions are unlikely to care about 🤷

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

I am not the quickest. When I've acknowledged this in the past some people have acted like I am committing some sort of heinous crime. If it's an ECR scholar then yes I would like to be quick. If it's not then people should be realistic about the free labour they expect from others.

Sol Gamsu reposted

UNISON
@unison.org.uk

Strong public backing for wealth taxes to fund services. New YouGov polling ahead of the Budget shows public support for making the wealthiest, big corporations and banks pay their fair share to invest in public services. buff.ly/ti6xMYb

Sol Gamsu reposted

Mark Crail
@markcrail.bsky.social

New book: Shout for Freedom, about the sonic history of #Chartism. Its author, David Kennerley, spoke at Chartism Day this year. Looking forward to reading this. chartistancestors.blog/2026/10/16/b...

chartistancestors.blogBook: Shout for Freedom: a sonic history of ChartismFrom the clank of machinery to the beauty of birdsong, the tramp of marching feet to the exhilaration of a dance, the cheering of crowds to the silence of prison, sound was central to Chartism. Now…

Sol Gamsu reposted

Rhiannon Lockley (she/her)
@illdoitanyway.bsky.social

Opinion: Limiting industrial action to defensive branch battles on redundancy is not enough. We need to politically challenge the HE funding model in the UK: my piece for the @timeshighered.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/only...

timeshighereducation.comOnly a nationwide strike can stem the carnage in UK higher educationLimiting industrial action to defensive branch battles on redundancy is not enough. We need to politically challenge the HE funding model, says Rhiannon Lockley

Sol Gamsu reposted

Grant Buttars
@gbuttars.bsky.social

I agree completely

Sol Gamsu@solgamsu.bsky.social

A very bleak survey being sent round about @ucu.org.uk Congress. Very clear from the suggestions in the survey that the current NEC wants to water down democratic processes and limit the power of Congress. This is intensely political b/c delegates have tended not to support current leadership.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

A very bleak survey being sent round about @ucu.org.uk Congress. Very clear from the suggestions in the survey that the current NEC wants to water down democratic processes and limit the power of Congress. This is intensely political b/c delegates have tended not to support current leadership.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

It is also deeply ironic given that Jo Grady originally elected as the candidate who would support democratic reform within the union and off the back of a Congress & a dispute which had seen deep tensions between leadership and delegates and membership.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Would like to do TWT squared: Tyne, Wear, Tees: The World Transformed. Bring together the left from across the north east for workshops and organising. Don't have enough hours in the day for all the activist dreams...

Sol Gamsu reposted

Saul Staniforth
@saulstaniforth.bsky.social

The hypocrisy of the UK govt laid bare. Defence minister @lukepollard.bsky.social (talking about the Houthis & Iran): "You are responsible if you fire a missile at a civilian target.. countries should not have their civilian infrastructure targeted by extremists or by another state"

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

I wonder what the Weberian/Bourdieusian analyses of class in (higher) education does to our understanding of class. Does it obscure us to an approach based on EP Thompson which might look for new patterns of class *formation* within the heavily endebted, crisis-riven structure of youth transitions?

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

What will student debt do to class formation? Will it compound forms of precarity and proletarianization within the 'middle class'? How will this dovetail with housing crises and economic stagnation? I wonder if our obsession with 'class background' (cultural capital etc) obscures a lot of this.

Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Maybe this is about remembering that "class-as-identity is metaphor, helpful at times in describing a flux of relationship —[... and that we should be] sociologists who are willing to throw across the time-switch again. If we do not use this control, we have a very blunt cutting instrument indeed."

Sol Gamsu reposted

UCL Thomas Coram Research Unit
@tcru-ucl.bsky.social

How do working-class young people make sense of hardship, identity and inequality? This week’s seminar with @amit-singh.bsky.social draws on research in London, Rochdale & Morecambe to ask when race matters, and when shared hardship tells us more. bit.ly/4ybkedb 15 Oct, 12–1pm, Gordon Sq.

bit.lyDecentring race to make sense of social sufferingJoin this event to hear Amit Singh explore how working-class youth in London interpret identity, hardship, and social conditions across racial lines.

Sol Gamsu reposted

bazouzabou
@bazouzabou.mstdn.fr.ap.brid.gy

Replying to @bazouzabou.mstdn.fr.ap.brid.gy

Un principal et une enseignante blessés (par balle par un tir de fusil de chasse): les élèves sous le choc à Aubagne https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/video-un-principal-et-une-enseignante-blesses-les-eleves-sous-le-choc-a-aubagne_VN-202610120495.html

bfmtv.comUn principal et une enseignante blessés: les élèves sous le choc à AubagneVIDÉO - Trois personnes, dont le principal et une professeure, ont été blessées par des tirs de fusil de chasse dans l'enceinte du collège Joseph-Lakanal à Aubagne. Un adolescent de 14 ans a été interpellé, soupçonné d'être l'auteur des tirs.
Sol Gamsu
@solgamsu.bsky.social

Looking back at conversations about organising & activism that we did during Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party makes me realise how far we wrenched the overton window open and how hard the (Labour) centre and right have sought to slam it shut.