Interactionist Perspective Flashcards
The interactionist perspective
-interactionism is a micro theory
-instead of generalising a theory across the whole of society they want to know what actually happens in schools on a day-to-day basis
-focus on the interactions pf individuals
-they use qualitative research methods
Becker: labelling theories
- teacher defines or labels the pupil in a particular way, such as ‘bright’ or ‘dull’
- the way the teacher interacts with the pupil will be determined by the label they have been given
- the pupil may respond accordingly and the label becomes true and the prophecy is fulfilled
Dune and Gazeley: labelling in secondary schools
- teachers ‘normalised’ the underachievement of working class pupils
- labelled working class parents as uninterested in their child’s education and middle class parents as supportive
- the way teachers explained and dealt with underachievement itself led to class differences in attainment, called this the Pygmalion effect
Self fulfilling prophecy: Rosenthal and Jacobson
- rosenthal and Jacobson conducted a study in an elementary school in America, told class teachers that 20 of their students were expected to do very well in the exams, when in fact there were no differences
- studied them for a year and found that the teachers treated the students differently, the students began to think of themselves different to their classmates and ended up preforming better
Pygmalion effect
Being treated better leads to better performance
Self fulfilling prophecy: Ball
-banding at Beachside comprehensive: pupils were put into one of 3 bands according to information passed on from their primary schools
-if their parents were from a working class background they’d be more likely to be placed in a lower band
-higher levels of absences and non-conformist behaviours started to show in bands 2&3, they were also entered into lower-level exams which restricted their potential
Self fulfilling prophecy: Gillborn and Youdell
-conducted studies in two separate London secondary schools into teacher and pupil interactions
-found that teachers tend to see ability as fixed, therefore seeing some pupils as having limited potential
-white middle-class pupils were more likely to be viewed as ‘ideal pupils’— links to Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital
-found that pupils who did not fit the ‘ideal’ were more likely to be judged in a negative manner and placed in lower sets
-Stutton argued that Asian girls are more likely to be seen as ideal, used the halo effect to describe how these students were often favoured
Gillborn and Youdell identified the ‘Educational Triage’
Refers to the sifting and sorting of pupils according to three categories
1. Those who will pass anyway and can be left to get on with it
2. Those with potential, who will be helped to get a grade C or better
3. Hopeless cases who are doomed to fail
What is a pupil subculture?
A group of pupils who share similar values and patterns of behaviour, often emerge as a response to the way pupils have been labelled
Pro-school subculture
Pupils are placed in high streams (usually middle class) and tend to be committed to the values of the school, they gain their status on the approved manner through academic success
Anti-school subculture
Pupils tend to be placed in low streams (usually working class), these pupils suffer from a loss of self-esteem and in a response to their low status they gain an alternative status by inverting the schools values of hard work, obedience and authority and replace these with their own highly regarded values
Tony Sewell: African Caribbean subcultures
Studied subcultures based on ethnicity in an all-boys school and found in response to being a minority group Afro-Caribbean students formed the following subcultures:
Conformists: they accepted the values of the school and tried to succeed through education
Innovators: they kept out of trouble as they hoped for success, however they did not seek the approval of teachers
Retreatists: individuals who kept themselves to themselves and did not join subcultures
Rebels: rejected the school and were aggressively masculine
Mac and Ghaill
-studied working class students in a working class comprehensive in the midlands
-found that distinct working class male peer groups developed as a result of setting, students-teacher relationships, position of the students in the working class, and changes in the local economy
-working class ‘macho lads’ were dismissive of other working class boys who worked hard and aspired to middle class careers
-development of this when Mac and Ghaill and Redman found the dominant definition of masculinity changed from ‘macho lads’ in the lower secondary school to one of ‘English gentlemen’ in the sixth form
Habitus
Refers to the learned taken for granted assumptions, outlook, expectations and ways of being, doing, and having
Archer et al
-focused on the interaction between working class pupils identities and how this produces underachievement
-drew on the work of Bourdieu and the concept of habitus; middle classes have the the power to define middle class habitus as superior and impose it on the education system- Bourdieu referred to this as symbolic violence
-Archer found that working class pupils felt they would need to change how they spoke and presented themselves in order to be educationally successful
-argued that as a result, many working class pupils experienced the education system and schooling to be something that was unnatural and alien to them
-working class pupils have responded to this ‘symbolic violence’ by constructing meaningful identities for themselves by investing heavily in styles and branding
-Archer stated that this working class pupils investment in Nike identities was not only a cause of their educational marginalisation by the school, but also a positive preference fit a particular lifestyle
-as a result, many working class pupils chose to eliminate or exclude themselves from education
