identity, class + girls' achievement- gender

Question 1

Symbolic capital

Answer 1

Louise Archer et al (2010):
-The status, recognition and sense of worth we obtain from others
-Found that by performing their w/c identities, girls gained symbolic capital from their peers BUT this brought them into conflict with the school, preventing them from achieving well + gaining that economic capital

Question 2

Hyper-heterosexual feminine identites

Answer 2

-Girls’ performance of this identity brought status from their female peers + avoided being ridiculed for wearing the ‘wrong’ brand
-Brought them into conflict with the school, as they were often in trouble.
-The ‘ideal female pupil’ identity is a de-sexualised + middle-class one that excludes w/c girls.
-Led to the school defining the girls as ‘not one of us’, incapable of educational success etc.

Question 3

Bordieu

Answer 3

-Symbolic violence- harm done by denying someone symbolic capital + defining their culture as worthless

Question 4

Working-class girl dilemma

Answer 4

-Either gaining symbolic capital by conforming to a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity OR gaining educational capital by rejecting their w/c identity + conforming

Question 5

‘Successful working class girls’

Answer 5

Evans (2009):
-Found that w/c girls want to go to uni to increase their earning power, not just for themselves BUT to also give back to their families
-W/C girls are limited in their options as their economic situation holds them back, more likely to choose to live at home and go to uni nearby