Class identity Flashcards
What is the definition of Identity?
Sense of ‘who you are’ made up of a range of influences
Identity encompasses personal, social, and cultural factors.
Define Habitus.
Way of life for a social class
Habitus refers to the deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that individuals acquire through their life experiences.
What does Symbolic capital refer to?
Being wealthy in terms of status – having high status
Symbolic capital can influence social interactions and perceptions.
What are Nike identities?
WC invest in brands to create a WC identity
Refers to working-class individuals using brand affiliation to shape their social identity.
Define Symbolic violence.
Where the behaviour or habitus of others is devalued as inferior
Symbolic violence often reinforces social hierarchies.
What is meant by Social suicide?
Where not conforming to style standards leads to negative responses from peers
This concept highlights the social pressures to conform to group norms.
What does Self-exclusion mean?
Take yourself out of a situation
Self-exclusion can be a coping mechanism in response to social pressures.
Define Policing identity/shaming.
Where other pupils label and exclude people for not conforming to expectations
Policing involves maintaining social norms and expectations within a group.
What is the primary focus of sociologists regarding pupils’ class identities?
How pupils’ class identities formed outside school interact with the school and its values to produce educational success and failure.
Which researchers focus on the interaction between working-class pupils’ identities and school?
Archer et al (2010).
What concept do Archer et al (2010) draw on to understand the relationship between working-class pupils’ identities and school?
Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus.
True or False: One class’s habitus is intrinsically better than another’s.
False.
What power does the middle class have regarding its habitus?
To define its habitus as superior and to impose it on the education system.
What does the school value more according to Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital?
Middle-class tastes and preferences.
Fill in the blank: The interaction between working-class pupils’ identities and school leads to _______.
underachievement.
What is linked to Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital?
The school putting a higher value on middle-class tastes and preferences.
What is symbolic capital according to Bourdieu?
Status and recognition gained from school due to middle-class tastes and preferences
Pupils socialised into middle-class habits are valued more in educational settings.
How does the school system view working-class habits?
The school devalues the working-class habitus, deeming their tastes tasteless and worthless
Examples include clothing and accent.
What term does Bourdieu use to describe the withholding of symbolic capital from the working class?
Symbolic violence
This concept refers to the reproduction of class structures by defining working-class tastes as inferior.
What impact does the clash of habitus have on working-class pupils in education?
They feel the need to change how they talk and present themselves to succeed
This often leads to a sense of losing one’s identity.
What did Archer find about the aspirations of working-class pupils regarding higher education?
They felt unable to access ‘posh’, middle-class spaces such as university and professional careers
They perceived these opportunities as ‘not for the likes of us’.
Fill in the blank: Symbolic violence reproduces the _______ structure.
class
This mechanism keeps lower classes ‘in their place’.
True or False: Symbolic capital is equally distributed among all social classes in educational settings.
False
Middle-class pupils gain more recognition compared to working-class pupils.
What is symbolic violence in the context of school identity?
It is the way schools look down on certain pupils, leading them to seek alternative ways of creating self-worth.
How do pupils create meaningful class identities?
By investing heavily in styles, especially through consuming branded clothing such as Nike.
What role do peer groups play in style performances?
Style performances are heavily policed by peer groups, and not conforming is considered ‘social suicide’.
What is the consequence of having the right appearance among peers?
It earns symbolic capital and approval from peer groups and provides safety from bullying.
How do school dress codes conflict with students’ styles?
The school’s middle-class habitus leads teachers to oppose ‘street’ styles, viewing them as ‘bad taste’.
What does Archer argue about the school’s middle-class habitus?
It stigmatises working-class pupils’ identities, viewing their ‘Nike’ identities as tasteless.
What is the significance of ‘Nike’ identities for young people?
They are a means of generating symbolic capital and worth for the young people.
How do Nike styles affect working-class pupils’ views on higher education?
They play a part in the rejection of higher education by working-class pupils.
Fill in the blank: Not conforming to peer group style expectations is considered _______.
‘social suicide’.
True or False: Teachers view ‘street’ styles positively.
False.
What was the main focus of Ingram’s study in 2009?
The relationship between educational success and working-class identity
Ingram studied two groups of WC Catholic boys from a deprived neighborhood in Belfast.
What were the two groups of boys studied by Ingram?
One group passed the 11+ exam and went to grammar school, the other failed and attended a local secondary school
Both groups were from the same highly deprived neighborhood.
How did WC identities relate to their neighborhood according to Ingram?
WC identities were inseparable from belonging to a WC area, providing an intense feeling of belonging
This connection was through friends and family.
What pressure did the boys face regarding conformity?
They felt pressured to ‘fit in,’ particularly the grammar school boys
This created tension between their WC neighborhood habitus and the MC school environment.
What is symbolic violence as described by Ingram?
The pressure for WC students to abandon their WC identity to succeed
An example is a boy wearing a tracksuit on non-uniform day at grammar school.
Fill in the blank: Ingram’s study involved WC boys from a _______ neighborhood.
[highly deprived]
What is a barrier to success for working-class (WC) young people in higher education?
A clash between their WC identity and the habitus of higher education
This clash can lead to feelings of not fitting in and reluctance to apply to elite universities.
What process did Evans identify that affects WC students’ university applications?
Self-exclusion
This process involves students feeling that elite universities are not for them, which limits their options.
What did Evans find about the intentions of WC girls regarding moving away for university?
Only four of the 21 intended to move away from home to study
This indicates a strong attachment to their locality among the students studied.
According to Reay et al (2005), what is the impact of self-exclusion from elite universities on WC pupils?
It narrows their options and limits their success
This self-exclusion perpetuates a cycle of limited educational opportunities for WC pupils.
What consistent pattern do studies show regarding the education system’s treatment of WC people?
The MC education system devalues the experiences and choices of WC people
This devaluation leads to WC pupils feeling that they must choose between their identity and educational success.
What dilemma do WC pupils face in relation to their identities and the MC habitus of education?
Choosing between maintaining their WC identities or conforming to the MC habitus to succeed
This reflects the pressure to adapt to a system that may not value their backgrounds.
Fill in the blank: Many working-class young people experience a clash between their WC identity and the _______.
habitus of higher education
True or False: The majority of WC girls studied by Evans intended to move away for university.
False
Only four out of twenty-one girls intended to move away, indicating a strong local attachment.
