‘Student loans as symbolic violence’ (https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2020.1771507) was Highly Commended for the 2021 Best Article Award in he Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management
Comments from the selection committee are as follows: Diane Harris and colleagues’ article was possibly the most eloquently written article published by our journal 2021, drawing the reader into a deeply theoretical and practical discussion about how student loans affect wellbeing. As commented by one Committee member, ‘the authors argue convincingly for student indebtedness to be viewed as an example of Bourdieu's symbolic violence, providing a genuinely alternative account of policy effect’. But this extended also to practical implications, with another Committee member concluding that ‘the findings have strong implications on how higher education should be financed, higher education participation and exclusion, and student wellbeing’.