Karl Maton

Room 105 RC Mills Building +612 9351 3902 Current Position Lecturer Website: http://www.karlmaton.com

Research Interests

Karl Maton specialises in the sociologies of education, knowledge and culture. His interests are focused on questions of knowledge and society, including epistemology, the network society, the knowledge society, higher education, schooling, and cultural studies. Karl is the principal author of Legitimation Code Theory (‘LCT’), a sociological framework for the study of social fields of cultural and educational practice. During semester time, a fortnightly Roundtable meets to discuss Legitimation Code Theory. This approach builds on the approaches of, among others, Pierre Bourdieu, Basil Bernstein and critical realism, and is being used in a number of current interdisciplinary research projects, including studies of:

• ‘digital natives’ and technology;
• how different disciplines build new knowledge and change over time, such as cultural studies, mathematics, sociology, etc;
• conceptual and theoretical development in the social sciences and humanities;
• building students’ knowledge in schooling
• special education, such as the differential success across the curriculum of pupils with Asperger’s Syndrome

Karl welcomes expressions of interest in PhDs into any aspect of knowledge or education that are interested in using a Bourdieuian/Bernsteinian approach.

Karl holds three major grants. Two are ‘A+’ rated ARC Discovery Grants on:

• Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Schooling: Analysing and improving integrated, cumulative learning in classrooms ($360,000, 2009-2011)
  - analysing and implementing the basis for cumulative learning in high school biology and History
• Living and Learning in a Knowledge Society: The implications of young adults’ knowledge-creating practices for higher education ($80,000, 2009-2010)
  Tracing through young adults’ knowledge-creating practices in everyday and academic contexts

Karl is also running the largest study of students and staff perspectives on educational technology at university undertaken in Australia:

• The Current and Future Role of ICTs at the University of Sydney ($85,000, 2009)

Karl completed his PhD on The Field of Higher Education at the University of Cambridge. He has published in sociology, education, linguistics, philosophy and cultural studies, and previously worked at the University of Cambridge, The Open University, Keele University and the University of Wollongong.

Other offices held

Within university

• Postgraduate Coursework Coordinator, Department of Sociology and Social Policy
• Faculty Board, Faculty of Education and Social Work
• Academic advisor, Students At Risk program, Faculty of Arts

Beyond university

• President, Australasian Association for Critical Realism
• Editorial Board, Journal of Critical Realism
• Member of organizing committee of The Sixth International Basil Bernstein Symposium, June-July 2010, Griffith University, Brisbane.
• Co-organiser (with Prof Fran Christie) of Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Language: An international conference, University of Sydney, Dec 2008
• Co-organiser (with Dr Rob Moore) of Social Realism in Education: An international colloquium, University of Cambridge, July 2008.
• Organiser of ‘Engaging Realism’ ongoing seminar series, University of Sydney (2007-).
• Invited Visiting Scholar, Département de Sociologie, Université de Provence June-July 2008; Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Dec 2004 and Nov 2005.
• International Reviewer of research quality for South Africa’s National Research Foundation, 2007 and 2008
• Moderator of email listservs: The Sociology of Basil Bernstein; Australasian Critical Realism; Legitimation Code Theory

Current teaching

• SCLG2608 Social Construction of Difference
• SCLG 6903 New Debates in Social Theory
• SCLG 2621 SCLG2621 Power, Politics and Society

Supervisions

Doctoral Supervisions:

Lian Gao (EdD), Awarded 2007
The changing context of tertiary English teaching in China and teachers’ responses to the challenges
Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong

Rainbow Chen (PhD)
The acculturation of Chinese students to studying online within Australian higher education.
Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong

Lucila de Carvalho, (PhD),
The sociology of informal learning in/about design
Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney

Elizabeth Sayigh-Kane (PhD)
Academics’ intellectual biographies: Making a case for the humanities and social sciences
Graduate School in Humanities, University of Cape Town

Sharon Aris (PhD)
What knowledge? What knowers? How parents choose a high school for their children
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney


Masters Supervisions

Tara McKenzie (MA research)
First-generation university students
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Stephen Borthwick (MPhil)
Knowledge, higher education and social reproduction
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Honours Theses Supervisions

Jack Finegan, 2007 (awarded first class Honours)
The democratisation of knowledge? An enquiry into forms of online knowledge and participation
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Rebecca O’Brien, 2009 (awarded first class Honours)
Special education or specialist education? An exploratory study of pre-service teachers’ knowledge of special education.
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Research Grants

• ARC Discovery Project grant ($360,000, 2009-2011)
  Freebody, Martin and Maton
  Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Schooling: Analysing and improving integrated, cumulative learning in classrooms.
• ARC Discovery Project grant ($80,000, 2009-2010)
  Bennett and Maton
  Living and Learning in a Knowledge Society: The implications of young adults’ knowledge-creating practices for higher education.
• Sydney University, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) research grant ($85,000, 2008-2009)
  Maton and Bennett
  The Current and Future Role of ICTs at the University of Sydney: The educational implications of staff and student perspectives.
• Carrick Institute competitive grant ($180,000, current)
  Kennedy, Krause, Judd, Gray, Bennett, Dalgarno, Maton and Bishop.
  Educating the Net Generation: Implications for Learning and Teaching in Australian Universities.
• University of Wollongong Research Committee competitive grant ($10,000, current)
  Bennett and Maton
  The ‘Digital Natives’ and Their Implications for Higher Education
• Strategic Development Fund, SOPHI, University of Sydney ($2,000, 2007)
  Maton
  ‘Digital Natives’ and Higher Education.

Books

Van Krieken, R., Smith, P. Habibis, B., Smith, P., Hutchins, B., Martin, G.. & Maton, K. (2010) Sociology: Themes and perspectives. Fourth Edition. Sydney, Pearson.

Maton, K. and Moore, R. (eds) (in press, 2009) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education: Coalitions of the mind. London, Continuum.

Articles in Refereed Journals

Carvahlo, L., Dong, A. and Maton, K. (in press, 2009) Legitimating design: A sociology of knowledge account of the field, Design Studies. Accepted Nov 2008.

Maton, K. (2009) Cumulative and segmented learning: Exploring the role of curriculum structures in knowledge-building, British Journal of Sociology of Education 30(1): 43-57.

Chen, R., Bennett, S., and Maton, K. (2008) The adaptation of Chinese international students to online flexible learning: Two case studies, Distance Education 29(3) 307-323

Lamont, A. and Maton, K. (2008) Choosing music: Exploratory studies into the low uptake of music GCSE, British Journal of Music Education 25(3): 267-282.
- selected for journal’s 25th Anniversary edition as example of cutting-edge research

Bennett, S., Maton, K. and Kervin, L. (2008) The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence, British Journal of Educational Technology 39(5): 775-786.

Freebody, P., Maton, K., and Martin, J. (2008) Talk, text and knowledge in cumulative, integrated learning: A response to ‘intellectual challenge’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 31: 188-201.

Maton, K. (2005) A question of autonomy: Bourdieu’s field approach and policy in higher education, Journal of Education Policy 20(6): 687-704.

Maton, K. (2005) The sacred and the profane: The arbitrary legacy of Pierre Bourdieu, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 8(1): 121-132.

Wright, H.K. and Maton, K. (2004) Cultural studies and education: From Birmingham origin to glocal presence, The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies, 26 (2-3): 73-90.

Maton, K. (2003) Reflexivity, relationism and research: Pierre Bourdieu and the epistemic conditions of social scientific knowledge, Space and Culture, 6(1): 52-65.

Maton, K. (2003) Eternizando o arbitrário: O legado profano de Pierre Bourdieu, Educação, Sociedade and Culturas, 19: 89-102.

Maton, K. and Wright, H.K. (2002) Returning cultural studies to education, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 5(4): 379-392. [Sixth most-frequently cited article in the journal; http://ics.sagepub.com/reports/mfc_all_2.dtl, at Nov 1, 2006]

Maton, K. (2000) Languages of legitimation: The structuring significance for intellectual fields of strategic knowledge claims, British Journal of Sociology of Education 21 (2), 147-167.

Maton, K. (2000) Recovering pedagogic discourse: A Bernsteinian approach to the sociology of educational knowledge, Linguistics and Education 11 (1), 79-98.

Chapters in Books

Maton, K. (in press 2010) Segmentalism: The problem of building knowledge and creating knowers, in Vitale, P. & Frandji, D. (Eds.) Knowledge, Pedagogy & Society: International exchanges around Basil Bernstein's sociology of education. London, Routledge.

Maton, K. (in press, 2010) Last night we dreamt that somebody loved us: Smiths fans and me in the late 1980s, in Campbell, S. & Coulter, C. (Eds.) Why Pamper Life’s Complexities? Essays on The Smiths. Manchester, Manchester University Press.

Lamont, A. & Maton, K. (in press 2010) Unpopular music: Beliefs and behaviours towards music in education, in Wright, R. (Ed.) Sociology and Music Education. London, Ashgate.

Maton, K. (2009) Invisible tribunals: Progress and knowledge-building in the humanities, in Singh, P., Sadovnik, A. & Semel, S. (Eds.) Toolkits, Translation Devices, Conceptual Tyrannies: Essays on Basil Bernstein's sociology of knowledge. New York, Peter Lang.

Maton, K. & Moore, R. (2009) Coalitions of the mind, in Maton, K. & Moore, R. (Eds.) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education: Coalitions of the mind. London, Continuum, 1-13.

Maton, K. (2009) Analysing knowledge claims and practices: Languages of legitimation, in Maton, K. & Moore, R. (Eds.) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education: Coalitions of the mind. London, Continuum, 35-59.


Maton, K. (2009) Progress and canons in the arts and humanities: Knowers and gazes, in Maton, K. and Moore, R. (Eds.) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education: Coalitions of the mind. London, Continuum, 154-178.

Maton, K. (2008) Gravité sémantique et Apprentissage segmenté, in Vitale, P. and Frandji, D. (Eds.) Enjeux Sociaux, Savoirs, Langage, Pedagogie: Actualité et fécondité de l’oeuvre de Basil Bernstein. Rennes, University of Rennes Press, 151-168.

Maton, K. (2008) Habitus, in Grenfell, M. (Ed) Pierre Bourdieu: Key concepts. London, Acumen.

Maton K. (2007) Knowledge-knower structures in intellectual and educational fields, in Christie, F. and Martin, J. (Eds.) Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives. London, Continuum, 87-108.

Maton, K. and Muller, J. (2007) A sociology for the transmission of knowledges, in Christie, F. and Martin, J. (Eds.) Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives. London, Continuum, 14-33.

Christie, F., Martin, J., Maton, K. and Muller, J. (2007) Taking stock: Future directions in research in knowledge structure, in Christie, F. and Martin, J. (Ed.) Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives. London, Continuum, 237-258.

Maton, K. (2006) On knowledge structures and knower structures, in Moore, R., Arnot, M., Beck, J. and Daniels, H. (Eds.) Knowledge, Power and Educational Reform: Applying the sociology of Basil Bernstein. London, Routledge, 44-59.

Maton, K. (2004) The wrong kind of knower: Education, expansion and the epistemic device, in Muller, J., Davies, B., and Morais, A. (Eds.) Reading Bernstein, Researching Bernstein. London, Routledge, 218-231.

Maton, K. (2002) Popes, Kings and cultural studies: Placing the commitment to non-disciplinarity in historical context, in Herbrechter, S. (Ed.) Cultural Studies: Interdisciplinarity and translation. Amsterdam, Rodopi, 31-53.

Moore, R. and Maton, K. (2001) Founding the sociology of knowledge: Basil Bernstein, intellectual fields and the epistemic device, in Morais, A., Neves, I., Davies, B. and Daniels, H. (Eds.) Towards a Sociology of Pedagogy: The contribution of Basil Bernstein to research. New York, Peter Lang, 153-182.

Maton, K. (1999) Extra curricular activity required: Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of educational knowledge, in Grenfell, M. and Kelly, M. (Eds.) Pierre Bourdieu: Language, culture and education. Bern, Peter Lang, 197-210.

Refereed Conference Publications

Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., Gray, K., Judd, T., Waycott, J., Bennett, S., Maton, K., Krause, K., Bishop, A., Chang, R. and Churchward, A. (2007) The net generation are not big users of Web 2.0 technologies: Preliminary findings from a large cross-institutional study. In: Atkinson, R., McBeath, C., Soong, A., and Cheers, C. (Eds.) Providing Choices for Learners and Learning: Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers In Learning In Tertiary Education (pp. 517-525). Singapore, ASCILITE.

Chen, R., Bennett, S., and Maton,. (2007) The online acculturation of Chinese student ‘sojourners’. In Montgomerie, C. and Seale, J. (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007 (pp. 2744-2752). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

Kennedy, G., Krause, K., Gray, K., Judd, T., Bennett, S., Maton, K., Dalgarno, B., and Bishop, A. (2006). Questioning the net generation: A collaborative project in Australian higher education. In: Markauskaite, L., Goodyear, P., and Reimann, P. (Eds) Who's learning?, Whose Technology?, Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. (pp. 413-417). Sydney, ASCILITE. Available: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney06/proceeding/pdf_papers/p160.pdf

Maton, K. (2006) Invisible tribunals: Canons, knower structures and democracy in the arts and humanities, In: Sadovnik, A. (Ed.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Basil Bernstein Symposium. Rutgers, USA, Rutgers University.

Maton, K. and Moore, R. (2000) Bernstein, intellectual fields and the epistemic device, In: Morais, A. and Neves, I. (Eds.) Towards a Sociology of Pedagogy: Proceedings of the First International Basil Bernstein Symposium. Lisbon.

Reports

Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., Bennett, S., Gray, K., Waycott, J., Judd, T., Bishop, A., Maton, K., Krause, K-L., & Chang, R. (2009) Educating the Net Generation: A handbook of findings for practice and policy. Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

Other publications

Maton, K. and Shipway, B. (2007) ‘Studies of education’, in Hartwig, M. (Ed.) Dictionary of Critical Realism. London, Routledge.

Maton, K. (2006) Why theory? It’s not rocket surgery!, Australian Association for Research in Education News 56, October: 11.

Maton, K. (2004) Cultural fastfood with the Frankfurt School, Three-D: UK Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, 1: 15.

Maton, K. (2003) Review of Robert Willmott, Education Policy and Realist Social Theory, Sociological Review, 51(4): 569-72

Maton, K. (2003) Reflecting on reflexivity, Three-D: UK Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, 2: 13.

Maton, K. (2003) Talking paradigms, Three-D: UK Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, 1: 6.

Maton, K. (2001) Review of Andrew Sayer, Realism and Social Science, Sociological Review 49 (1), Feb, 149-152.

Maton, K. (2001) The real and critical need of educational research for critical realism, Journal of Critical Realism, May, 56-59

Invited Keynote Addresses

Maton, K. (2009) Getting clear about knowledge. Knowledge and Curriculum in Higher Education Symposium, University of Cape Town, June.

Maton, K. (2008) Knowledge-building: How can we create powerful and influential ideas? Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec.

Maton, K. (2008) Critical realism, social realism and the epistemic device. Critical Realism and Education: An international conference, Institute of Education, University of London, July.

Maton, K. (2007) Segmented learning: Knowledge-building in contemporary education, Explorations in Knowledge, Society and Education, University of Cambridge, June.

Maton, K. (2007) Semantic gravity and segmented learning: The problem of building knowledge and creating knowers, Enjeux Sociaux, Savoirs, Langage, Pedagogie: Actualité et fécondité de l’oeuvre de Basil Bernstein, University of Lyon, France, May-June.

Maton, K. (2004) Knowledge structures and knower structures in intellectual fields, Reclaiming Knowledge: Registers of discourse in the community and school, University of Sydney, Australia, Dec.

Maton, K. (2002) Building a Tower of Babel: Towards a social science of knowledge, Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia, July.

Other Conference Papers (since 2002)

Maton, K. (2009) Inclusion is not enough: Bringing field and knowledge into the equity equation. Student Equity in Higher Education: What we know, what we need to know. (Invitation only event). University of South Australia, Feb.

Chen, R., Maton, K. and Bennett, S. (2008) Knowledge and knowers in online learning: What constructivism does to students. Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec.

Maton, K. (2008) Cumulative and segmented learning. Critical Realism and Education: International conference, Institute of Education, University of London, July.

Maton, K. (2008) Grammars of sociology. Fifth International Bernstein Symposium, University of Cardiff, July

Maton, K. (2008) Legitimation code theory. Social Realism and Education: An international colloquium, University of Cambridge, July

Bennett, S. and Maton, K. (2007) ‘Digital natives’, everyday knowledge and higher education: Distinguishing rhetoric and reality in the digital natives debate. Australian Association for Research into Education Annual Conference, Fremantle, November

Maton, K. and Bennett, S. (2007) Segmenting knowledge: Authentic learning and the problem of transfer. Australian Association for Research into Education Annual Conference, Fremantle, November

Maton, K. (2007) A Bernsteinian analysis of knowledge, knowers and identities in higher education: Divorce or trial separation? Australian Association for Research into Education Annual Conference, Fremantle, November

Maton, K. and Bennett, S. (2007) Questioning ‘digital natives’. Learning Technology Research Symposium, University of Sydney, October

Maton, K. and Bennett, S. (2007) Invited Speakers: Mythbusting digital natives: What’s really happening, and what does it really mean for education? Learning Futures, ANU, September

Konza, D. and Maton, K. (2006) Increasing the capacity of students with Asperger’s Syndrome to achieve across the curriculum. Australian Association of Special Education national conference, Canberra, Sept-Oct.

Maton, K. (2006) Divorce or trial separation? Knowledge, knowers and identities in higher education. British Educational Research Association annual conference, Warwick University, September

Maton, K. and Konza, D. (2006) The curious incident of the Asperger’s student in the classroom: Theorising inclusion and differential subject achievement. British Educational Research Association annual conference, Warwick University, September

Maton, K. (2006) Invisible tribunals: Canons, knower structures and democracy in the arts and humanities. Fourth International Basil Bernstein Symposium, Rutgers University, USA, July

Maton, K. (2005) Fracturing autonomy: Bourdieu and contemporary changes to the higher education community. The Australian Sociological Association Annual Conference, University of Tasmania. December.

Maton, K. (2005) Resources of hope, results of despair: The peculiar demise of the commitments of cultural studies. Discourses of Hope: International Systemic Functional Congress, University of Sydney, July.

Maton, K. and Hood, S. (2005) The languages of disciplinarity: knowledge, knowers and recontextualisation. Discourses of Hope: International Systemic Functional Congress, University of Sydney, July.

Maton, K. (2005) What is to be done? Critical realism and the sociology of education. Engaging Realist Alternatives: International Association of Critical Realism, University of Western Sydney, July

Maton, K. (2005) Last night they dreamt that somebody loved them: Fans of The Smiths in the late 1980s. Why Pamper Life's Complexities? Symposium on The Smiths, University of Manchester, April.

Maton, K. (2004) Accessing knowledge structures: Languages, literacies and the epistemic device. Third International Basil Bernstein Symposium, University of Cambridge, July

Maton, K. (2002) ‘Barbarians at the gates of Academe!’: The response of education systems to the arrival of new students. Knowledges, Pedagogy and Society: Second International Basil Bernstein Symposium, University of Cape Town, South Africa, July.

Maton, K. (2002) A little knowledge is a dangerous thing: Whatever happened to the sociology of educational knowledge? XV World Congress of Sociology: The social world in the 21st century, University of Queensland, Brisbane, July.

Invited Lectures

Maton, K. (2009) Bourdieu and Bernstein (two classes), Australian Association for Research in Education Masterclasses: The utility of theory(ies) in educational research, Charles Sturt University, Oct.

Maton, K. (2009) Two day ‘Workshop on Legitimation Code Theory’, University of Cape Town, July.

Maton, K. (2009) Theory - what is it good for? (Quite a lot, actually). Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town, July.


Maton, K. (2008) Bourdieu, Bernstein and LCT (Three seminars), Australian Association for Research in Education Masterclasses: The utility of theory(ies) in educational research, Charles Sturt University, Sept.

Maton, K. (2008) Cumulative learning and semantic gravity, Systemic Functional Linguistic Research Seminar, University of Sydney, Sept.

Maton, K. (2008) Beyond Bourdieu and Bernstein, University of Provence, Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme, June.

Maton, K. (2008) Respondent to papers, Quality research into professional practice: Emerging and continuing challenges, Policy and Professional Practice Research Network Seminar Day, University of Sydney, June.

Maton, K. and Bennett, S. (2008) Building on Bernstein to explore cumulative learning: The cases of authentic learning and school English, Griffith University, April.

Maton, K. (2006) Studies in sociology of education beyond Bourdieu and Bernstein: Special education, music education and educational technology, University of Newcastle, Australia, Oct.

Maton, K. (2006) The sociology of education beyond Bourdieu and Bernstein, University of Cardiff, Sept.

Maton, K. (2006) Developing Bourdieu to understand changes in higher education, University of Sydney, Aug.

Maton, K. (2005) Three seminars: Sociology of Education in the 21st Century: Bourdieu, Bernstein and Beyond, QUT, Australia, Nov

Maton, K. (2005) Three part seminar series: Sociology of Education in the 21st Century: Bourdieu, Bernstein and Beyond, University of Technology Sydney, Aug, Sept, Oct
1. Seeing Education: Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘field’
2. Analysing Education: Basil Bernstein’s codes and devices
3. Beyond Bourdieu and Bernstein: Legitimation code theory

Maton, K. (2005) Resources of hope, results of despair: Whatever happened to British cultural studies?, Macquarie University, Sociology Colloquium, Aug.

Maton, K. (2005) Fractured autonomy: Current higher education policy in historical perspective, Institute of Education, University of London, Sociology Section Seminar, June.

Maton, K. (2005) On autonomy, higher education policy and Bourdieu, Sheffield University, Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain Research Seminar, May.

Maton, K. (2004) Bernstein’s knowledge structures and knower structures, QUT, Australia, Dec.

Maton, K. (2002) Realising Bourdieu in educational research: A user's guide, University of Nottingham, School of Education: Research Seminar Series, April.