Accessing the elite figured world of science

Abstract

This review explores Jackson and Seiler’s “I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: A critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum” by considering the analytic framework for figured worlds guiding this study. We consider the specific affordances of cultural production theory for examining how sociohistorical and cultural discourses of science as elite impact individuals at every level of education. We then extend this discussion by exploring how an informal learning space at a prestigious science museum was designed to explicitly tackle cultural discourses of science as elite that act as barriers to identification with science.