Social Class - Internal Factors

Question 1

What are the 5 main factors internally affecting social class differences in education?

Answer 1

• labelling
• self fulfilling prophecy
• pupil subculture
• streaming
• pupils class identities and the school

Question 2

What does labelling refer to?

Answer 2

To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them

Question 3

Why do teachers label?

Answer 3

Teachers often label students based on stereotyped assumptions

Question 4

Who interviewed 60 Chicago high school teachers? What did they find?

Answer 4

Howard Becker (1971)
-he found they they judged pupils against the image of the ‘ideal pupil’
^-work, conduct and appearance informed their judgement
-he found that m/c pupils were closest to the ‘ideal’
-w/c students were further away from the ‘ideal’- regarded as badly behaved

Question 5

Who did a study of American school counsellors/career advisers?
What did they find?

Answer 5

Aaron Cicourel & John Kitsuse (1963)
-found that labelling can disadvantage w/c students
-counsellors claimed to assess students suitability to enter higher education on the basis of ability
HOWEVER
-in reality, they judged their suitability mainly in the grounds of social class/race

Question 6

Who did a study on American kindergarten?

What did they find?

Answer 6

Ray Rist (1970)
-teachers used information on students home & backgrounds to separate them into different tables
-e.g. “Tigers” were fast learners, m/c, neat and tidy, received most encouragement
“Cardinals” and “clowns” : w/c, given lower level work, read as a group, given less opportunities to show their ability

Question 7

Who did a study on ‘Mapledene’ a British primary school?

What did they find?

Answer 7

Rachel Sharp & Tony Green (1975)

• children choose their own activities and develop at their own pace
• m/c children appeared ‘ready to learn’ quicker and received more attention
• w/c children engaged in ‘compensatory play time’ until they were ‘ready’ and received less reading time and attention

Question 8

How did marxists criticise labelling theory? 2 Criticisms

Answer 8

-Labelling theory ignores the wider structure of power within which which labelling takes place.
Labelling theory tends to blame teachers for labelling pupils but fails to explain why they do

-labels are merely the result of teachers individual prejudices, but stem from the fact that teachers work in a system that reproduces class divisions

Question 9

Why is labelling theory argued to be deterministic? (Criticism)

Answer 9

It assumes that pupils who are labelled have no choice but to fulfil the prophecy and will inevitably fail - studies show this is not always the case (Mary Fuller)

Question 10

Define the self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 10

A prediction that comes true simply by the virtue of it having been made

Question 11

What are the 3 steps of the self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 11

Step 1 - the teachers labels a pupil
Step 2 - the teacher treats the pupil accordingly
Step 3 - the pupil internalises the label

Question 12

Define streaming

Answer 12

Separating children into different groups based on ability

Question 13

Who quotes ‘a way of separating sheep from goats and educating them differently’ to explain the effectiveness of streaming?

Answer 13

Colin Lacey (1970)

Question 14

What did JWB Douglas in 1964 find?

Answer 14

He found that IQ of those in the bottom streams fell over time, whilst in the top streams it increased
-those in lower streams denied the access to the same curriculum

Question 15

Define pupil subcultures

Answer 15

A group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns

Question 16

What are the 2 ways in which pupil subcultures develop? Define them

Answer 16

DIFFERENTIATION
-the process by which a teach categories pupils -‘low status = less able’ ‘high status = more able’

POLARISATION
-a process by which students respond to streaming, moving towards a ‘pole’ or extreme

Question 17

What are the 2 main pupil subcultures?

Answer 17

Pro-school

Anti-school

Question 18

Who generally fits into the pro school subculture?

Answer 18

M/C 
Obedient, hard working, organised 
Gain status through educational success 
Teachers view them as a cause of academic success 
Higher streams

Question 19

Who generally fits into the anti school subculture?

Answer 19

W/C
Disruptive, messy, ‘I don’t care attitude
Gain status through peer groups
Teachers view them as a lost cause with no hope
Lower streams

Question 20

How can pupil subculture theorists be criticised?

Answer 20

They presume that every pupil labelled will automatically be drawn to that subculture, however it can be seen with many pupils they attempt to break out of the label
E.G. Students labelled as useless (wc) are placed in low streams, even though most pupils will go to an anti school subculture, other will be determined to succeed to prove the education system wrong

Question 21

Who wanted to abolish streaming?

Answer 21

Stephan ball(1981)

• looked at a comprehensive school, mixed ability groups instead
• pupil polarisation disappeared
• teacher labelling persisted, leading to a SFP
• trend in the U.K. Has been towards more streaming and more variety of school types

Question 22

What is meant by pupils class identities and the class?

Answer 22

How identities are formed in schools and ways in which they are formed

Question 23

Define habitus

Answer 23

Refers to the ‘dispositions’ or learned, taken for granted ways of thinking, being and acting that are shared by a particular social class

Question 24

Who’s habitus is seen as superior and why is this a problem for the other group of people?

Answer 24

M/C habitus is seen as superior
-means that in education, the w/c’s tastes, attitudes and beliefs are seen as inferior and disregarded leading to underachievement

Question 25

What is symbolic capital? Who has this?

Answer 25

M/C
- as their habitus is used in education, it gives them status, worth and value because their beliefs, and values are seen as correct

Question 26

What is symbolic violence?

Who has this?

Answer 26

W/C
The school devalues the w/c’s habitus so that their beliefs are seen as inferior and deemed to be tasteless and worthless

Question 27

What did Archer find when looking at symbolic capital and violence?

Answer 27

W/c pupils felt that in order to be educationally successful, they would have to change how they talked and presented themselves. And therefore meant a process of ‘losing yourself’

Question 28

When looking at the variety of pupil responses, who argues other than forming pro or anti school subcultures, there are 4 possible responses to labelling and streaming?

Answer 28

Peter Woods (1979)

• INGRATIATION - being the ‘teachers pet’
• RITUALISM - going through the motions and staying out of trouble
• RETREATISM - daydreaming and mucking around
• REBELLION- outright rejection of everything the school stands for

Question 29

Who identified that pupils do not also commit to the 4 types of pupil responses?

Answer 29

John Furlong (1984) 
Many pupils move around the 4 responses, based on the teachers and subjects

Question 30

Briefly explain what is meant by ‘Nike’ identities

Answer 30

Symbolic violence led pupils to seek alternative ways of creating self worth, status and value
-they did so by constructing meaningful class identities for themselves by heavily investing in 'styles' especially through the brand Nike

Question 31

How did w/c view higher education?

Answer 31

• UNREALISTIC- because it was not for ‘people like us’ but for richer, posher, cleverer people, and they would not fit in. Also seen as unaffordable and a risky investment
• UNDESIRABLE- because it would not ‘suit’ their preferred lifestyle and habitus