class differences in achievement - internal factors - pupil class identity

Question 1

archer (2010)

Answer 1

looked at interaction between a pupil’s class identity formed outside of school and school and achievement

Question 2

what does habitus mean?

Answer 2

dispositions or learned behaviour, ways of thinking and acting shared by a class

Question 3

symbolic capital

Answer 3

middle class students are seen as more worthy, with more potential

middle class kids have symbolic capital - they share the same habitus as the education system

Question 4

symbolic violence

Answer 4

working class students are seen as inferior, their preferences, clothing, accents and appearance are seen as inferior

working class kids are seen as alien

to be educationally successful, they felt they had to change themselves

they had to lose themselves to fit into university and professional careers

Question 5

nike identities

Answer 5

working class students seek alternative ways of creating self worth

wearing brands becomes a way for them to become themselves

peers become the ‘style police’ - not conforming was social suicide

conflict with the school dress code

middle class see this brand fetish as tasteless, young working clss see it as generating their own symbolic capital

nike styles - signifies a lifestyle and justifies the rejections of higher education

working class get the message that education is not for them and actively chose to reject it through their lifestyle

Question 6

working class identity and educational success

nicola ingram (2009)

Answer 6

there may be conflict between working class habitus and the middle class school habitus

study of two groups of working class catholic boys from the same deprived area in belfast

one group passed 11+ - grammar school
one group failed - local comprehensive school

ridiculed for wearing a tracksuit on non school uniform day

Question 7

class identity and self exclusion

evans (2009)

Answer 7

study of 21 working class girls from south london

reluctant to apply to top universities, even though they had the top grades

‘oxbridge is not for the likes of us. we would not fit in’

self exclusion from top universities - limits options and success