Cultural Deprivation - Textbook Flashcards
What did a study by the Centre For Longitudinal Studies find?
By 3 children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already up to 1 year behind those from more privileged homes and the gap widens with age.
Some sociologists find this to be the result of cultural deprivation.
How do most people begin to acquire the basic values, attitudes and skills needed for education success?
Through primary socialisation in the family which teaches things such as language, self-discipline and reasoning skills.
According to cultural deprivation theorists what do many w/c families fail to do?
Socialise their children adequately which means these children grow up ‘culturally deprived’ lacking cultural equipment needed to do well at school resulting in them underachieving.
What are the 3 main aspects of cultural deprivation?
Language, parents education and working class subculture.
What is language an essential part of?
The education process and the way in which parents communicate with their children affects their cognitive (intellectual) development and ability to benefit from the process of schooling.
What did Hubbs-Tait et al find?
When parents used language that challenged their children to evaluate their own understanding or abilities cognitive performance improves.
What did Feinstein find educated parents are more likely to do?
Use language which challenges their children to evaluate their own understanding/ abilities.
How do less educated parents tend to use language?
Language i ways that only require children to make simple descriptive statements which results in lower performance.
What did Feinstein find that educated parents are more likely to use and what does this encourage?
Praise which encourages children to develop a sense of their own competence.
How do cultural deprivation theorists see differences in how parents use language linked to?
Social class.
What did Bereiter and Engelmann claim?
Language used in lower class homes is deficient as they communicate with gestures, single words or disjointed phrases.
As a result of parents using deficient language what dont children develop?
Necessary language skills - growing up incapable of abstract thinking and unable to use language to explain, describe, enquire or compare - means they cannot take advantage of the opportunities school offers.
What does Bernstein identify differences between?
Working class and muddle class language that influence achievement.
What are the two types of speech code Bernstein identified?
The restricted code and the elaborated code.
What is the restricted code?
Typically used by the working class, limited vocabulary, based on short often unfinished grammatically simple sentences.
Speech is predictable and may involve a single world or just a gesture.
Not descriptive nor analytic.
Context-bound.
The elaborated code
Used by the middle class.
Wider vocabulary and based on grammatically more complex sentences.
Speech is varied and communicates abstract ideas.
Context free.
What do differences in speech code give m/c?
An advantage at school because elaborated code is used by teachers and textbooks and exams.
How does Bernstein view the elaborated code?
A more effective tool for analysing and reasoning and for expressing thoughts clearly and effectively.
What does early socialisation into the elaborated code mean?
Middle class children are already fluent when they start school making them feel more ‘at home’ in school and more likely to succeed unlike working class children who lack the code making them feel excluded and less successful.
Why do critics argue that Bernstein is a cultural deprivation theorist?
Describes working class speech as inadequate.
What does Bernstein recognise unlike most cultural deprivation theorists?
That school and home influence children’s achievement arguing working-class pupils fail because schools fail to teach them how to use the elaborated code.
Douglas study on education
Found working class parents placed less value on education and as a result were less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education.
They also visited schools less and were less likely to discuss their children’s progress with teachers resulting in children having lower levels of motivation and achievement.
What does Fernstein argue parents own education is?
The most important factor affecting children’s achievement.
What does educated parents’ parenting style emphasise?
Consistent discipline and high expectations of their children which supports achievement by encouraging active earning and exploration.
What is less educated parents parenting styles marked by?
Harsh/ inconsistent discipline that emphasises doing as you’re told and behaving yourself which prevents the child from learning independence and self-control leading to poorer motivation at school and problems interacting with teachers.
What are educated parents more aware of?
What is needed to assist their children’s educational progress leading them to engage in behaviour such as reading to their children.
What are educated parents better able to get?
Expert advice on child rearing, better relationships with teachers and better guiding good children’s interactions with school.
What do better educated/ m/c parents tend to have which helps children’s educational success?
Higher paid incomes which they spend in ways that promote their children’s educational success.
What did Bernstein and Young find middle-class mothers are more likely to do?
Buy educational toys, books and activities that encourage reasoning skills and stimulate intellectual development whereas working class homes are more likely to lack these resources.
What do better educated parents have a better understanding of?
Nutrition and its importance on child development which a higher income allows parents to buy more nutritious foods.
What did Feinstein note parental education has an influence on?
Children’s achievement regardless of class or income therefore even with a given social class better educated parents tend to ave children who are more successful at school.
What do cultural deprivation theorists argue a lack of parental interest in a child’s education reflects?
cultural values of the working class.
According to cultural deprivation theorists what do large sections of w/c have?
Different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values which is why children fail at school.
What are the 4 features Sugarman argued the w/c subculture has that act as a barrier to educational achievement?
- Fatalism - nothing you do will change your status.
- Collectivism - valuing being part of a group ore than succeeding as an individual
- Immediate gratification - seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get rewards in the future.
- Present-time orientation - seeing the present as more important than the future and so not having long term goals/ plans.
How do w/c children internalised beliefs and values of their subculture?
Through socialisation which results in them underachieving in school.
Where does Sugarman suggest differences in values between w/c and m/c come from?
The fact that m/c jobs are secure careers offering prospectus for continuous individual achievement which encourages ambition, long-term planning and a willingness to invest time and effort in gaining qualifications which contrasts to w/c jobs which are less secure and have no career structure through which individuals can advance.
What do compensatory education programmes aim to tackle?
The problem of cultural deprivation by providing extra resources to schools and communities in deprived areas.
What is operation head start?
A multi-billion dollar scheme of pre-school education in poorer areas introduced in the 1960s with its aim being to plan enrichment of the deprived child’s environment and develop skills and instil achievement and motivation.
It included improving parenting skills, setting up nursery classes and home visits by educational psychologists.
What are some examples of compensatory education programmes in the UK?
Educational priority areas
Educational action zones
Sure start
What has cultural deprivation been criticised as?
An explanation of class differences in achievement.
How does Keddie describe cultural deprivation?
As a ‘myth’ and sees it as victim blaming dismissing the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived home background.
Why do we/c children fail according to Keddie?
Because they are put at a disadvantage by an education system dominated by m/c values.
What does Keddie argue schools should recognise?
w/c subcultures and recognise and build on its strengths and challenge teachers anti-working-class prejudices.
What do Troyna and Williams argue the problem is in the education system?
The schools attitude towards the child’s language
According to Blackstone and Mortimer what do w/c parents do and why?
Attend fewer parents evenings because they work longer, less regular hours or are put off by schools m/c atttudes.
The may want to help their child progress but lack the knowledge to do so.
