Social Class and Educational Achievement - External Factors Flashcards
social class
refers to your position in society
Material Deprivation (lacking)
refers to living in poverty and lacking material (basic) necessities such as housing and income (food,clothing etc)
Material Deprivation - Housing
1) overcrowding - w/c living in overcrowded conditions. This is due to a lack of money. No place to study/No quiet. Responsibilities of caring for younger siblings. No sleep
2) homeless - losing your house - council then putting you in a council house/guest house - share your home with other families, council will constantly move your accommodation - temporary
3) lack of money - can’t afford heating creating damp - Asma, cold - too ill to go to school - underachievement - happens to w/c - they have no money
Material Deprivation - Health
Howard - poorer families - less money - lack of nutrients (vitamins and minerals) - healthy food is more expensive - less likely to buy it. Immune system falls - gets ill - days off school - underachievement
Wilkinson - w/c suffer from emotional problems (stress, anxiety) constantly seeing their parents go through stress of money. Part-time job for a student can be stress - underachievement - resulting in you taking your anger out at the school
Material Deprivation - Finances
w/c - lack money - money needed for internet, tuition, books, laptops etc. They don’t have access to resources that they need. Part-time job - might cause them to underachieve- reduces the amount of time they have for studying.
Cultural Deprivation (working class)
means the lack of values, skills, experiences, knowledge and attitudes needed for educational success
Cultural Deprivation - Intellectual development
Douglas - w/c are less likely to develop intellectually. they lack reasoning, thinking and problem solving. w/c don’t have the money to buy educational toys. m/c have the money therefore those children have an advantage as they start school equipped with reasoning skills. They are less likely to give up (learn resilient)
Cultural Deprivation - Language
Bernstein - w/c and m/c parents speak the language differently. m/c speak using the elaborated code. it is grammatically correct, has broad vocab and is free of context.
w/c use the restricted code. it is context bound, speak generally with any detail, grammatically simple, narrow vocab, slang. they are less educated.
w/c have to learn the elaborated code which can be difficult for them. m/c learn from their parents
Cultural Deprivation - Attitudes and Values
w/c have different attitudes and values to m/c.
w/c - values - fatalism: faith -your life is not in your hands it is in faith. education - believes there’s no point in trying, its in the hands of faith.
collectivism: believe that those around you are more important than yourself (family, friends)
immediate gratification: if you want something, you want it now. - watch t.v instead of revising.
Parents had these values - they are passed on by primary socialisation - parents lead children that these things are the right way to follow. - w/c are more likely to lack all these factors
m/c values - individualism - think about yourself (postpone delay) - a reward for hard work - understand the sacrifice - deferred gratification
Cultural Deprivation - Criticism (1)
Compensatory education - 1960’s - american - operation head start. Aimed at the most disadvantaged children. Sesome street - programme to teach children. w/c learn from t.v - m/c taught by parents
British - sue start - free nursery school places . Education priority areas (EPA)
EPA - most deprived areas money spent for deprived children to have stuff and opportunities like m/c children. (breakfast, activities, trips)
Cultural Deprivation -Criticism (2)
myth of cultural deprivation - KEDDIE - offensive to call w/c children culturally deprived. They are simply culturally deprived. Schools promote m/c cultural. Can make w/c children feel inferior schools need to change. w/c children need to change. w/c children may drop out of education due to this.
Cultural Capital (middle class)
it is the opposite of cultural deprivation. You do have the language, skills, experiences, tastes, attitudes and knowledge held by the m/c.
Cultural Capital - cultural capital
Bourdieu - having these experiences - m/c have it. Pass it on by socialisation - passed on by cultural reproduction. All the knowledge, skills, values are passed on to children by reading to them, talking, trips, educational toys etc. Helps them because the education system promotes m/c values. Rewards m/c children when they show they are possessing cultural capital. because m/c parents have all this knowledge they know about league tables - apply to the best schools and know how the system works - can appeal if you don’t get in
Cultural Capital - economic capital
Bourdieu - m/c families have money - from high income jobs. it can help buy you the resources you need. use it to buy houses near high achieving schools. how good the school is determines the prices of houses. houses near top of the rank school will determine you a place at that school
Cultural Capital - educational capital
Bourdieu - m/c parents have an education of their own. They have better tips, advice and they can teach you stuff. if they don’t know they can use their educational capital - tuition or contact links. they have a combination of resources which can out their child at an advantage.
