Class: External Factors: Cultural Deprivation

Question 1

What did the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (2007) find about children aged 3 who experience cultural deprivation?

Answer 1

By the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are up to 1 year behind.

Question 2

How are basic values, attitudes and skills obtained?

Answer 2

Through primary socialisation.

Question 3

What does it mean to be culturally deprived?

Answer 3

Working class families fail to socialise their children adequately.

Question 4

What does a lack of cultural equipment lead to?

Answer 4

Underachievement.

Question 5

What are the 3 factors of cultural deprivation?

Answer 5

• Language.
• Parents’ education.
• Working class subculture.

Question 6

1. (Language) What did Hubbs-Tait (2002) find about parents’ use of language?

Answer 6

Parent’s use of challenging language improves cognitive performance.

Question 7

What does Feinstein say about the language of educated parents in 2008?

Answer 7

Educated parents = challenging language and praise.

Question 8

What do Bereiter and Engelmann say about language in lower class homes?

Answer 8

• It is deficient.
• Children fail to develop necessary language skills, incapable of abstract thinking, or use language to explain, describe, enquire or compare.

Question 9

Who came up with ‘speech codes’ and what did they say about speech?

Answer 9

• Bernstein.
• He states that speech is an important form of communication in education.

Question 10

What research did Bernstein conduct about speech codes? (What did they explore?)

Answer 10

Conducted research exploring the relationship between speech patterns and class.

Question 11

What are the two different speech codes?

Answer 11

Elaborated and restricted speech codes.

Question 12

What is elaborated speech and how is it an advantage to middle class children?

Answer 12

Elaborated is the ‘correct’ way to speak. Good for analysing, reasoning and expressing thoughts.

Advantages:
- Used by teachers, textbooks and exams.
- Early socialisation = fluent by the time they start school = more likely to succeed.

Question 13

Therefore, why does Bernstein suggest that the working class fail in the education system?

Answer 13

Working class students fail not because they are culturally deprived, but because schools fail to teach them how to use the elaborated code.

Question 14

2. (Parents’ Education) What is the thought behind parents’ education and how does it affect their children?

Answer 14

• Parents’ attitude affects achievement.
• Less ambition, less encouragement and less interest → visit school less = less likely to progress, meaning children have less motivation and achievement.

Question 15

What did Douglas say about working class parents in 1964?

Answer 15

They place less value on education.

Question 16

What did Feinstein state in 2008 about parents’ education?

Answer 16

Parents’ education is the most important factor for their children’s achievement.

Question 17

What are aspects of an educated parenting style?

Answer 17

• Consistent discipline.
• High expectations.
• Supports achievement by active learning and exploration.

Question 18

What are aspects of a less educated parenting style?

Answer 18

• Harsh or inconsistent discipline.
• Emphasises ‘doing as you’re told’ and ‘behaving yourself’.

Question 19

How is it helpful for a parent to obtain educational behaviours?

Answer 19

• More aware of what is needed to assist educational progress and successful in establishing good relationships with teachers.
• Recognises the educational value of museums and library visits.

Question 20

How do educated parents provide an advantage for their children with their higher income?

Answer 20

Promotion of educational success, better understanding of nutrition.

Question 21

What did Bernstein and Young say in 1967 about middle class mothers’ use of income?

Answer 21

Middle class mothers are more likely to buy books and activities.

Question 22

How else can high income benefit children’s education?

Answer 22

Middle class jobs → secure careers → encourages ambition and long term planning, willingness to invest time and effort into gaining qualifications.

Question 23

How does low income disadvantage children’s education?

Answer 23

Working class jobs → less secure and no career structure with less promotions opportunities and earning peak early.

Question 24

3. (Working Class Subculture) Why do the working class fail at school due to their working class subculture?

Answer 24

Large parts of the working class have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society → why their children fail at school.

Question 25

Sugerman states in 1970 that there are 4 features of the working class subculture that acts as a barrier. What are they?

Answer 25

• Time orientation.
• Attitude to gratification.
• Collectivism vs individualism.
• Attitudes to luck.

Question 26

What does the working class believe about time orientation?

Answer 26

Present time orientation - live life in the moment.

Question 27

What does the middle class believe about time orientation?

Answer 27

Future time orientation - think ahead.

Question 28

What does the working class believe about attitudes to gratification?

Answer 28

Seek immediate gratification - enjoy yourself now.

Question 29

What does the middle class believe about attitudes to gratification?

Answer 29

Accepted deferred gratification - put off pleasure now in order to achieve greater pleasure in the future.

Question 30

What do the working class believe about collectivism vs individualism? (How is success achieved?)

Answer 30

Success achieved through collective action, e.g. a union going on strike.

Question 31

What do the middle class believe about collectivism vs individualism? (How is success achieved?)

Answer 31

Success achieved through individual action, e.g. studying or working hard.

Question 32

What does the working class believe about attitudes to luck?

Answer 32

Your chances in life are based upon luck or fate (fatalism).

Question 33

What does the middle class believe about attitudes to luck?

Answer 33

Your chances in life are based upon your ability and hard work.

Question 34

What does Compensatory Education do?

Answer 34

• Aims to tackle the problem of cultural deprivation.
• Intervene early in the socialisation process to compensate for deprivation experienced at home.

Question 35

(Contrast - Is cultural deprivation a myth?) What did Keddie suggest about this in 1973? (Victim blaming explanation…)

Answer 35

Victim blaming explanation = dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background.

Question 36

How else suggests that cultural deprivation is a myth?

Answer 36

• Working class children are culturally different, not deprived.
• Failure is due to the education system, which is dominated by the middle class.

Question 37

(Is cultural deprivation a myth?) What did Troyna and Williams (1986) say about a ‘speech hierarchy’?

Answer 37

The problem is not the child’s language but the school’s attitude towards it. Teachers have a ‘speech hierarchy’.

Question 38

(Is cultural deprivation a myth?) What did Blackstone and Mortimore (1994) say about parents evenings in relation to the working class?

Answer 38

Working class parents attend fewer parents’ evenings due to working longer or less regular hours, put off by the school’s middle class atmosphere or lack of knowledge and education to help their child progress.

Question 39

(Evaluation) What did Blackstone and Mortimore (1994) say about parental interest?

Answer 39

Research hasn’t measured parental interest in education adequately.

Question 40

(Evaluation) What did Evans (2007) say about working class parents’ value on education?

Answer 40

Most working class parents place high value in education and encourage their children to achieve well.

Question 41

(Evaluation) Who did Gaine and George (1999) criticise and what did they deline about that sociologist’s research?

Answer 41

• Criticises Bernstein saying he overly simplified the difference between middle class and working class speech patterns.
• Class differences have declined since Bernstein’s research.