Pupils' Class Identities and the School (Internal)

Question 1

What is habitus?

Answer 1

• The learned ways of thinking, being and acting that are shared by a social class.
• It’s the shared framework of behaviour within a group. It’s made up of social, cultural, economic and educational factors.
• A group’s habitus is formed as a response to its position on the class structure

Question 2

How is the MC habitus valued more?

Answer 2

• The MC has the power to define its habitus as superior and to impose it on the education system.
• As a result, the school puts a higher value on MC tastes, preferences and so on

Question 3

Describe symbolic capital

Answer 3

• Pupils who’ve been socialised at home into MC preferences gain ‘symbolic capital’ (status) and recognition from the school and are deemed to have worth
• The school devalues the WC habitus so they’re deemed to be tasteless

Question 4

Describe symbolic violence

Answer 4

• Bourdieu calls withholding of symbolic capital ‘symbolic violence’. By defining the WC and their lifestyles as inferior, symbolic violence reproduces class structure and keeps the lower class ‘in their place’
• So there’s a clash between WC pupils’ habitus and the schools MC habitus. Then, WC students may experience the world of education as alien and unnatural

Question 5

Describe the procedure of the study on WC symbolic violence

Answer 5

Archer did a study on WC identity through interviews from individuals and discussion group with more pupils

Question 6

Describe the finding of the study on WC symbolic violence

Answer 6

• Archer found WC pupils feel the need to change to fit in education. So changing the way they talk and present themselves. They felt like they ‘lost themselves’ in the system and couldn’t access ‘posh’ MC spaces which weren’t for the ‘likes of us’ (university etc.)
• Young people found their own solution to symbolic violence, seeking worth through their investments in style. However, they play into oppressive social relations by rejecting MC habitus

Question 7

What are disadvantages of Archer’s study

Answer 7

• As it’s a longitudinal study, it requires more resources and time
• There’s a small sample size, it’s unrepresentative

Question 8

What is a Nike identity?

Answer 8

Those who can’t access the MC school habitus wear brands (Nike) and it becomes a part of the WC identity, to not conform would be ‘social suicide’ and wouldn’t earn symbolic capital from peers.

Question 9

How does a Nike identity go against MC habitus?

Answer 9

• It leads to conflict with the school’s dress code which reflects the schools’ MC habitus, teachers see ‘street’ styles as showing ‘bad taste’.
• Pupils who adopt street styles risk being labelled as rebels

Question 10

What does Archer argue about Nike identities?

Answer 10

• The school’s MC habitus stigmatises WC pupils’ identities
• Style is a struggle for recognition and self worth while MC see their Nike identity as tasteless

Question 11

How do Nike identities play a part in WC pupil’s rejection of higher education?

Answer 11

• They saw HE as unrealistic and undesirable
• Unrealistic: it wasn’t for ‘people like us’ but for rich, posh and clever people. It was seen as an unaffordable and risky investment
• Undesirable: it wouldn’t ‘suit’ their habitus. e.g. they didn’t want to live on a student loan as they would be unable to afford the street styles that gave them their identity

Question 12

What does Archer et al argue about investment in Nike identities?

Answer 12

• It causes their educational marginalisation by the school, but also expresses their positive preference for a lifestyle.
• So, WC pupils choose self-exclusion from education as they ‘get the message’ education isn’t for them and it doesn’t fit in with their identity

Question 13

Describe the procedure of a study on the relationship between educational success and WC identity

Answer 13

• Ingram studied two groups of WC Catholic boys from the same deprived area
• One group went to a grammar school, while the other went to a local secondary.
• The grammar school had a MC habitus of high expectations, while the secondary school had a WC habitus of low expectations

Question 14

Describe the findings of a study on the relationship between educational success and WC indentity

Answer 14

• Ingram found having a WC identity was inseparable from being from a WC locality. The area’s networks and street style was a part of the boys’ habitus and identity.
• However, WC communities emphasise conformity. The boys experienced pressure to ‘fit in’, which was a problem for the grammar school boys who had tension between the habitus of their WC area and their MC school

Question 15

Describe the study on the clash between WC identity and the habitus of HE

Answer 15

• Evan studied a group of 21 WC girls from a South London school studying for their A-Levels
• The girls had an attachment for their WC locality and only 4/21 intended to move away from home. None wanted to go to Oxbridge for the fear of not fitting in. Showing how self-exclusion narrows the options of WC pupils
• Therefore, WC are forced to choose between maintaining their WC identities or abandoning them and conforming to the MC habitus

Question 16

Give an example of the relationship between internal and external factors (habitus)

Answer 16

WC habitus formed out of school conflicts with the school’s MC habitus, leading to symbolic violence

Question 17

Give an example of the relationship between internal and external factors (speech code)

Answer 17

WC pupils using the restricted code may be labelled by teachers as less able, leading to SFP

Question 18

Give an example of the relationship between internal and external factors (poverty)

Answer 18

Poverty may lead to bullying by peer groups, leading to failure