Social Class Inequalities - Key Concepts

Question 1

Material deprivation

Answer 1

A situation whereby a family is unable to provide for their child’s basic necessities required in order to be comfortable, healthy and successful in education.

Question 2

Cultural deprivation

Answer 2

Where children lack the appropriate norms, values, attitudes, and skills needed to be successful in education and beyond.

Question 3

Cultural capital

Answer 3

Where children are actively encouraged to develop the appropriate norms, values, attitudes, and skills which will helps them to success in the future.

Question 4

Restricted code

Answer 4

When people speak in shorter sentences, using a limited range of vocabulary and depend more heavily on gestures than spoken word.

Question 5

Elaborated code

Answer 5

This is where they use more complex sentence structures and have a wider range of vocabulary. They also speak in a context-free way, meaning that they explain their points in full detail to other people, rather than assuming that the listener will understand their point and share their experiences.

Question 6

Subculture

Answer 6

A subculture possesses attitudes and values which are at odds with those in mainstream society.

Question 7

Fatalism

Answer 7

Where a person believes that their future path cannot be altered so there is no point in trying to work to change their possible outcomes.

Question 8

Collectivism

Answer 8

Where a person value being part of a group above their own individual achievements.

Question 9

Immediate gratification

Answer 9

This means that they want to have immediate fun and pleasure, rather than making sacrifices in the short-term in order to make greater gains and access bigger rewards in future.

Question 10

Present-time orientated

Answer 10

This means that they live for the here and now, rather than thinking to the future. They do little planning ahead, for example looking into possible careers and further study routes for when they leave school, meaning that they have less ambition compared to their middle-class peers.

Question 11

Labelling

Answer 11

To apply a judgment or attach a meaning to a person.

Question 12

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 12

This is where an individual who has been labelled and treated badly by the person who labelled them, internalises the label and accepts it to be true.

Question 13

Streaming

Answer 13

This is where a school groups pupils together based on ability, supposedly.

Question 14

A*-C economy

Answer 14

This is where schools are under pressure to get a good % of children five or more Cs or above in their GCSE*, so that they can achieve a good position on league tables.

Question 15

Educational triage

Answer 15

Refers to sorting people into three groups, based on priority and urgency of need.

Question 16

Polarisation

Answer 16

Pupils gravitate towards opposing reactions or responses in terms of their behavior.

Question 17

Differentiation

Answer 17

Teachers treat pupils in different ways to one another depending on how they have judged them.

Question 18

Pro-school subculture

Answer 18

These subcultures tended to abide fully by the school rules and value systems, and they behaved in ways which commanded respect and approval from teachers. They were also more likely to be academically successful.

Question 19

Anti-school subculture

Answer 19

Because the school’s treatment of them had left them feeling undermined and worthless, they responded by rejecting the values and rules of the school. They were more likely to engage in deviant behaviours such as truancy and disruption in lessons. This behaviour led to conflict with the teachers but gained them status and respect from other members of the subculture.

Question 20

Habitus

Answer 20

This refers to taken-for-granted ways of thinking and behaving

Question 21

Symbolic capital

Answer 21

Symbolic capital is where a person has been made to feel that they have a sense of worth.

Question 22

Symbolic violence

Answer 22

Symbolic violence is where a person is made to feel that they are worthless and of less value.

Question 23

Nike identity

Answer 23

This is where working-class pupils wear particular brands of clothing – usual sportswear – which their working class peers will approve of. This then allows the pupils to gain a sense of symbolic capital (self-worth) from their friends, making up for the lack of approval which they receive at school.

Question 24

Self-exclusion

Answer 24

Where working class pupils deny themselves opportunities and create their own barriers to educational progression.