Key Terms Flashcards
Social Class
The stratification of different groups based on power, economic wealth, social wealth and cultural wealth.
Social Stratification
The arrangement, categorisation or classification of people into different groups.
Meritocracy
A society in which individuals achieve on the basis of their own talents and abilities, rather than based on who you know or your family.
Free School Meals (FSM)
A government initiative which provides children whose parents’ incomes are low and receive income related welfare benefits with a daily meal at school.
Proxy
A figure that can be used to represent the value of something in a calculation eg ‘FSM is often used as an indicator of economic disadvantage and as a proxy of measuring social class’
Disadvantaged Pupils
Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); FSM; pupil premium funding; looked after or previously looked after and; parents in the armed forces.
Pupil Premium
Funding paid directly to the school to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Evidence shows that disadvantaged children generally face additional challenges in reaching their potential at school and often don’t perform as well as other pupils.
External Factors
Factors outside the school explaining class differences in educational achievement e.g material deprivation, cultural deprivation and cultural capital.
Internal Factors
Factors inside the school explaining class differences in educational achievement e.g pupil subcultures, self fulfilling prophecy, streaming and labelling, and the ‘halo-effect’.
Material Deprivation
Material deprivation is the inability to afford basic resources. This will mean pupils are unable to afford like sufficient food, heating or clothing, and educational resources.
Catchment Area
The geographical surrounding the school from which school’s pupils are drawn.
Cultural Deprivation
Some argue that working class pupils are likely to be culturally deprived, often because of inadequate socialisation. They argue that the norms and values of working class families are not those that lead to getting the best out of the education system.
Habitus
A cultural framework and set of ideas linked to a social class. People are socialised into this habitus and then it influences their tastes and choices.
Cultural Capital
Cultural capital refers to a lot of things- it can be knowledge, language, manners, behaviour, attitudes, values, tastes and lifestyles. Cultural capital gives the middle class an advantage in the education system.
Social Capital
The networks and relationships a person possesses based on class membership, which enables them to build and maintain relationships with others.
