Karl Maton

or Room 149 RC Mills Building +612 9351 3902 Current Position Lecturer

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, a sociological framework for the study of social fields of cultural and educational practice. This builds on the approaches of, among others, Pierre Bourdieu, Basil Bernstein and critical realism. This approach is being used in a number of current interdisciplinary research projects, including studies of:

• ‘digital natives’ and ICTs;
• conceptual and theoretical development in the social sciences and humanities;
• how different disciplines build new knowledge and change over time, such as cultural studies, mathematics, sociology, etc;
• the curriculum of school English (with systemic functional linguists);
• the problematic position of Music in the curriculum;
• special education, such as the differential success across the curriculum of pupils with Asperger’s Syndrome.

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.

• President, Australasian Association for Critical Realism
• Editorial Board, Journal of Critical Realism
• Co-organiser (with Dr Rob Moore) of Social Realism in Education: An international colloquium, University of Cambridge, July 2008.
• Co-organiser (with Prof Fran Christie and Prof Jim Martin) of Disciplinarity, Knowledge and Language: An international conference, University of Sydney, Dec 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.
• Moderator of email listservs: The Sociology of Basil Bernstein; Australasian Critical Realism; Legitimation Code Theory

• SCLG2608 Social Construction of Difference
• SCLG 6903 New Debates in Social Theory
• SCLG 4011 SCLG4011/4012 Honours core unit
• SCLG 2621 SCLG2621 Power, Politics and Society

Karl is also Postgraduate Coursework Coordinator for the Department.

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), Commenced 2006
The sociology of informal learning in/about design
Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning, University of Sydney

Susan Nandutu (PhD), Commenced 2007
Gender and equity in higher education
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Masters Supervisions

Tara McKenzie (MA research), Commenced 2007
First-generation university students
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Stephen Borthwick (MPhil), Commenced 2007
Knowledge, higher education and social reproduction
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

Honours Theses Supervisions

Jack Finegan,2007
The democratisation of knowledge? An enquiry into forms of online knowledge and participation
Faculty of Arts, University of Sydney

• Educating the Net Generation: Implications for Learning and Teaching in Australian Universities
  Kennedy, Krause, Judd, Gray, Bennett, Dalgarno, Maton & Bishop
  Carrick Institute competitive grant, ($180K, current)
• The ‘Digital Natives’ and Their Implications for Higher Education
  Bennett & Maton
  University of Wollongong Research Committee competitive grant ($10K, current)
• ‘Digital Natives’ and Higher Education
  Strategic Development Fund, SOPHI ($2k, current)
• The Current and Future Role of ICTs at the University of Sydney: Educational implications of staff and student perspectives, Maton & Bennett, TIES Grant, University of Sydney ($85k, current)

Lamont, A. & Maton, K. (2008) Choosing music: Exploratory studies into the low uptake of music GCSE, British Journal of Music Education 25(3): 267-282.

Freebody, P., Maton, K., & 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.

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

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

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. & Maton, K. (2004) 'Cultural studies and education: From Birmingham origin to glocal presence', The Review of Education, Pedagogy & 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 & Culture, 6(1): 52-65.

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

Maton, K. & 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; , 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 & Education 11 (1), 79-98.

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

Maton, K. (in press, 2008) Gravité sémantique et Apprentissage segmenté, in Vitale, P. & Frandji, D. (Eds.) Enjeux Sociaux, Savoirs, Langage, Pedagogie: Actualité et fécondité de l’oeuvre de Basil Bernstein. Rennes, University of Rennes Press. Accepted July 2007.

Maton, K. (in press, 2008) 'Last night we dreamt that somebody loved us: Researching fans of The Smiths at the end of the 1980s', in Campbell, S. & Coulter, C. (Eds.) Why Pamper Life’s Complexities? Essays on The Smiths. Manchester, Manchester University Press.

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

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

Christie, F., Martin, J., Maton, K. & Muller, J. (2007) 'Taking stock: Future directions in research in knowledge structure', in Christie, F. & 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. & Daniels, H. (Eds.) Knowledge, Power and Educational Reform: Applying the sociology of Basil Bernstein. London, Routledge.

Maton, K. (2004) 'The wrong kind of knower: Education, expansion and the epistemic device', in Muller, J., Davies, B., & 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. & Maton, K. (2001) 'Founding the sociology of knowledge: Basil Bernstein, intellectual fields and the epistemic device', in Morais, A., Neves, I., Davies, B. & 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. & Kelly, M. (Eds.) Pierre Bourdieu: Language, culture and education. Bern, Peter Lang, 197-210.

Kennedy, G., Dalgarno, B., Gray, K., Judd, T., Waycott, J., Bennett, S., Maton, K., Krause, K., Bishop, A., Chang, R. & 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., & 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., & Maton, K. (2007) The online acculturation of Chinese student ‘sojourners’. In Montgomerie, C. & 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., & Bishop, A. (2006). Questioning the net generation: A collaborative project in Australian higher education. In: Markauskaite, L., Goodyear, P., & 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. & Moore, R. (2000) Bernstein, intellectual fields and the epistemic device, In: Morais, A. & Neves, I. (Eds.) Towards a Sociology of Pedagogy: Proceedings of the First International Basil Bernstein Symposium. Lisbon.

Maton, K. & 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 & 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 & Cultural Studies Association, 2: 13.

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

Maton, K. (2001) Review of Andrew Sayer, Realism & 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

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. Segmented learning: Knowledge-building in contemporary education, Explorations in Knowledge, Society & Education, University of Cambridge, June 2007.

Maton, K. 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 2007.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Konza, D. & 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. & 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. & 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. (2008) Bourdieu, Bernstein and LCT. 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.

Griffith University, Australia, April 2007
Building on Bernstein to explore cumulative learning: The cases of authentic learning and school English (K. Maton & S. Bennett)

University of Newcastle, Australia, October 2006
Studies in sociology of education beyond Bourdieu and Bernstein: Special education, music education and educational technology

University of Cardiff, UK, September 2006
Sociology of education beyond Bourdieu and Bernstein

University of Sydney, August 2006
Fracturing autonomy: Developing Bourdieu to understand changes in higher education

University of Technology, Sydney, three part seminar series: Sociology of Education in the 21st Century: Bourdieu, Bernstein & Beyond, Aug, Sept, Oct 2005
- Seeing Education: Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘field’
- Analysing Education: Basil Bernstein’s codes & devices
- Beyond Bourdieu & Bernstein: Legitimation code theory

Macquarie University, Sociology Colloquium, Aug 2005
Resources of Hope, Results of Despair: Whatever happened to British cultural studies?

Institute of Education, University of London, Sociology Section Seminar, June 2005
Fractured Autonomy: Current higher education policy in historical perspective

Sheffield University, Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain Research Seminar, May 2005
On Autonomy, Higher Education Policy and Bourdieu

Queensland Institute of Technology, Brisbane, Dec 2004
Bernstein’s knowledge structures and knower structures

University of Nottingham, School of education: Research Seminar Series, April 2002
Realising Bourdieu in Educational Research: A user's guide