Class differences: cultural deprivation Flashcards
What are the three types of cultural deprivation?
Language barriers, parent’s education and w/c subculture
What are the two types of speech codes that Bernstein (1975) identifies and what are the differences?
Restricted code - typically w/c, context-bound, gesticulations, short and grammatically incorrect sentences
Elaborated code - typically m/c, context-free, can effectively communicate abstract ideas, complex and developed sentences
Which type of speech code gives which class more of an advantage in school?
Elaborated code and m/c since it is used by most teachers, textbooks and exams
How does the restricted code affect w/c students?
More likely to feel excluded since restricted code is not used in school - tend to less successful
Which sociologist stated that most w/c parents do not care about their child’s education?
Douglas (1964)
How does Feinstein (2008) support Douglas’s view on w/c parents and education?
Parenting style - educated parents (typically w/c) - more consistent discipline and encouraging achievement through active learning vs less educated parents - harsher and inconsistent discipline - poorer motivation and more clashes with teachers
Parent’s educational behaviours - educated parents read to their children and go to libraries
Use of income - Bernstein and Young (1967) - m/c mothers are more likely to buy educational toys and books which stimulate intellectual and reasoning skills
What were Sugarman (1970)’s four features of w/c subculture?
Fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, present-time orientation
Define habitus
The taken for granted ways of thinking and acting that are shared by a particular class
What is the difference between symbolic capital and symbolic violence?
Symbolic capital - status and recognition from the school that certain things have value vs symbolic violence - w/c tastes and values are deemed inferior and worthless
How does habitus affect w/c educational success?
Archer - w/c students felt they had to lose themselves in order
What is compulsory education and why is it used?
Programmes aimed to tackle the issue of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.
Used to intervene early in the socialisation process to compensate children for the deprivation they have suffered so far in life
What are UK and US examples of compulsory education?
Sure start (1998) -improve children’s ability to learn by encouraging high quality environments that promote early learning and improve language skills - 2010 - 3,500 local centres. Many have been shut down in 2011 due to cuts in funding
Head Start 1960s - planned enrichment of the deprived child’s environment to develop skills and instil achievement motivation e.g. Sesame Street - emphasised importance of punctuality, numeracy and literacy
Critiques of cultural deprivation
Keddie (1973) - victim blaming; w/c children are not deprived but culturally different; w/c children fail due to the dominance of m/c values in education; schools should challenge this by recognise the strengths of w/c culture and by challenge teacher prejudice
Troyna and Williams (1986) - Language isn’t the problem but the school’s attitude towards it - speech hierarchy - m/c - w/c - black speech
Blackstone and Mortimore (1994) - w/c parents attend less parents evenings as they are unable to get out of work; may want to help their child’s progress but don’t know how to do so; schools with predominately w/c pupils have less effective parent-school contacts
