SOCIAL CLASS Flashcards
inside factors interactionalists
Becker - research suggested that teachers see m/c pupils as closest to the “ideal pupil” in terms of performance, conduct, appearance and attitude
w/c seen as furthest from this, -as far as saying the criteria of attitude, appearance were more important in making judgements about pupil than ability or attendance.
teachers apply labels- consciously or unconsciously communicates the label to pupil
pupils will react positively or negatively leading to self fulfilling prophecy
eg. w/c “non achievers” = lack of achievement
inside factor pupil subcultures
Willis - 12 w/c boys - study of “learning to labour”
argued “lads” formed a distinctive “counter-school sub-cultural grouping” characterised by opposition to the values and norms perpetuated throughout the school.
“having a laff” became the main objective of the day
lads displayed strong hyper masculinity which don’t value education as they saw it as pointless and not relevant to the jobs they thought they were destined for.
underachieved in school - form anti-school subculture
Inside factor theoretical explanations Marxism
Althusser - “ideological control”
takes Marxist stance suggests education system is apart of the superstructure - directly impacted by the infrastructure = designed in a way to benefit bourgeoise
- to pass on necessary skills to create a workforce
- to pass on ruling class ideologies to ensure the working class conform
education plays a key role in ensuring that the working class are kept in a subordinate position
inside factor theoretical explanation - functionalism
Davis and Moore - claimed that education performs role allocation and helps to sift, sort and grade students
eg. A grade vs D grade, vocational subjects vs academic subjects
people in terms of ability which is rewarded with exam success
those with most ability are then rewarded in a meritocratic society in terms of economic rewards to ensure the best people fill the most functionally important roles
Outside factors Material Factor (money/financial) 1
Smith and Noble - discusses that some students face “financial barriers to learning”- due to parents low income
unable to afford the following:
- afford school uniforms, transport, textbooks and class materials (can lead to isolation/bullying)
- less likely to have a computer, desk, homework area
- marketisation of schools means the better resourced schools in affluent areas (than deprived)
- pupils more likely to work part time or care for younger siblings if parents do shift work
Outside factors Material factors (money/finical) 2
Raey et al - discusses the idea that economic capital is needed to gain cultural capital, meaning that some students miss out on this which has a negative impact on their educational attainment.
also claim private education pay into cultural capital - those who don’t have access to this face educational disadvantages,
w/c students more likely to have part time jobs, less time to study at home.
25% of private school students have extra tuition compared to only 10% of state schools students
Outside Factors Material Factor 3
Callendar and Jackson - carried out surveys on 2,000 perspective HE students, and examined their attitudes towards dept, class positions and decisions for HE destinations (uni)
“Fear of dept” found generally w/c afraid of dept and were x4 less likely to apply for university.
state that this fear was greatest among the poor and explain that the thought of dept stopped them applying completely.
Outside factor Material Factor 4
Bourdieu - acknowledges the impact of “economic capital” as well as “cultural capital” and ones economic capital interlinks with their possession of cultural capital
suggests middle class children have more cultural capital.
argued that e/c cultural attributes are rejected because the education system is defined by and for the middle classes who in turn succeed by default rather than greater ability.
m/c cultural assets are seen as worthy of investment and reward and hence have greater value as cultural capital
Outside factor Cultural Factors 1
Douglas - carried out a longitudinal survey in his study “ the home and school “
found that a variety of factors affected attainment such as the students health, size of family, the school ect.
argued that the most significant factor was the degree of parents interest in their education
claimed m/c parents were most likely to encourage attainment and progression - based on the indicator of more frequent visits to the school to discuss their child’s progress
Outside Factor Cultural Factor 2
Feinstein - also argued that parental interest was significant factor in educational attainment and that class differences existed in terms of support
measured parental interest by asking for the teachers assessment/ judgement of how much interest parents showed in their child’s education
Outside factor Cultural 3
Bernstein - Notes on the importance upon educational attainment in relation to social class. He defines the “Restricted code” and “elaborated code”
argues m/c can use both whereas w/c can only use the “restricted code”
restricted code- informal situations, lack in depth descriptions , linguistically is highly predictable and the dialogue is usually unplanned.
elaborated code - relatively formal, educated situations allowing people to be creative in their expressions and descriptions, no prior knowledge or meaning is needed in order to understand the information discussed
due to elaborated code within education they can generally out perform the w/c
outside factor cultural factor 4
Sugarman - Working class subcultures characterised by: Fatalism / Immediate Gratification / Present Time Orientation / Collectivism Marxists (cultural capital of middle class benefits them).
New right Outside
Eysenck - states that IQ is largely inherited - he claims that between 60-80% of intelligence is genetically based.
“what children take out of school is proportional to what they bring into school in terms of IQ”
also states that class differences in intelligence largely account for class differences in educational attainment
