Cultural Deprivation - Tony Sewell & Fathers, Gangs & Culture (2009)

Question 1

what three things does Sewell focus on? (3)

Answer 1

• fathers
• gangs
• culture

Question 2

how did sewell carry out his research, who/where did he research?

Answer 2

• interviews
• black boys living in deprived communites in London

Question 3

what did Sewell’s believe? state stats to back up his statement

Answer 3

• that home-background results in the underachievement of black boys, rather than in-school factors
• 60% of Black-Caribbean families in the UK are lone-parent compared to 25% of White families

Question 4

what does a lack of a father figure result in? what do they provide? (3)

Answer 4

• absence of a positive male role model can lead to black boys being less disciplined
• street gangs are an easy temptation and include values that reject education and academic success
• they provide what Sewell calls a “perverse form of loyalty and love”

Question 5

how does media portrayls of black boys further the idea of gangs? (2)

Answer 5

• media images of “ghetto gangsters” creates impression that black boys must be “tough” and avoid ”selling out to the white establishment”
• feeds into “black macho” subculture

Question 6

evauation of Sewell’s theories and of cultural deprivation in black-caribbean households in general (2)

Answer 6

• cult dep theory ignores black-caribbean families providing positive role models for young girls, which acts as a motivator for educational success
• studies often ignore the matrifocal socialisation of black women for their children

Question 7

Eval for a term that some sociologists object to

Answer 7

• object to the term ‘cultural deprivation’
• point out that it is hard to be deprived of the culture that society is built upon
• students may be ‘culturally different’ but not ’deprived’