Student responses to schooling - subcultures

Question 1

Pupil subcultures are

Answer 1

groups of students who share some values, norms and behaviour, which give them a sense of group identity and belonging, and provide them with support and peer-group status during the schooling process

Question 2

Lacey (1970) - Differentiation and polarization

Answer 2

study of a middle-class grammar school found 2 related processes at work in schools
- Differentiation - ranking and categorising students into groups (streams or sets) according to criteria such as hard work, good behaviour and exam success
- Polarisation - a consequence of differentiation where students are divided into 2 opposing groups (‘poles’) - high achieving conformists in top streams and those in bottom streams who are labelled as failures and therefore derpived of status

Question 3

Abraham (1989) study of a comprehensive school using setting found

Answer 3

that teacher’ perceptions of students’ academic ability and the processes of differentiation and polarisation led to the formation of pro-school and anti-school subcultures which can shape pupils’ identities and affect their chances of academic success
(Hargreaves, 1967, and Ball, 1981, also found this in secondary modern and streamed comprehensive schools, respectively)

Question 4

Pro-school subculture definition

Answer 4

a group organised around a set of values, attitudes and behaviour which generally conforms to the academic aims, ethos and rules of a school

Question 5

‘The lads’ in Willis’ Learning to Labour study called members of pro-school subcultures

Answer 5

‘ear ‘oles’

Question 6

Mac an Ghaill (1994) found a conformist pro-school subculture emerged in two male groups

Answer 6

• ‘Academic Achievers’ - skilled manual working class white and asian students who aspired to middle-class careers through academic success
• ‘New Enterprisers’ - skilled manual working class white and asian students who aspired to middle-class careers through success in vocational subjects (like computers or technology)

Question 7

Sewell (1998) found a pro-school subculture among

Answer 7

some black pupils (‘the conformists’) who sought to achieve academic success and avoid racist stereotyping and labelling by teachers by conforming to school values

Question 8

Belonging to a pro-school subculture is likely to encourage

Answer 8

peer-group support for success in education.

Question 9

Students in pro-school subcultures are likely to be

Answer 9

students in upper streams and sets who are valued and rewarded and given status as they fulfil the school’s ambition for good behaviour and academic success, generally from middle-class or skilled working class backgrounds

Question 10

Anti-school subculture definition

Answer 10

(sometimes called a counter-school subculture) consists of pupils who rebel against the school for various reasons, and develop an alternative anti-school identity, made up of a set of delinquent values, attitudes and behaviour (eg truancy, breaking rules, messing around) in opposition to the aims, ethos and rules of the school

Question 11

Subculture of resistance definition

Answer 11

one that not only has some differences from the dominant culture but also in active opposition to it

Question 12

Participation in anti-school subcultures

Answer 12

provides a means for pupils to improve their own self esteem, by giving them status in the eyes of their peer group which has been denied them by the school, but it also contributes to further poor educational performance, and in many cases contributes to the self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement

Question 13

Pupils in anti-school subcultures are likely to be

Answer 13

black caribbean and white british working class males

Question 14

A typical example of an anti-school subculture is

Answer 14

‘the lads’ in Willis’ Learning to Labour study in Wolverhampton comprehensive schools who sought to free themselves from what they saw as boring and oppressive schooling by making ‘having a laff’ their main aim

Question 15

Mac an Ghaill identified an anti-school subculture

Answer 15

in the bottom streams and sets (‘the Macho lads’, who were predominantly black caribbean working class boys) who were hostile to schooling and sought to achieve status and identity through aggressive masculinity and peer-group support, rebelling against racist stereotyping and labelling by teachers

Question 16

Sewell found an anti-school subculture

Answer 16

among working class black male students - ‘the rebels’

Question 17

Jackson’s research among 13-14 year old boys and girls, done through questionnaires and interviews with pupils and students from 6 comprehensive schools, found

Answer 17

that some girls were increasingly becoming part of anti-school subcultures, adopting ‘ladette’ behaviour (the female equivalent of the boisterous, assertive and crude ‘laddish’ culture among boys), taking an ‘it’s uncool to work’ approach
however, his evidence also suggested that many girls still tried to achieve academic success, working clandestinely by hiding their work and effort, at the same time as adopting ladette behaviour

Question 18

Woods (1979) - range of subcultural responses

Answer 18

suggested that 2 ‘poles’ of subcultures (anti-school and pro-school) was too simplistic, and there’s a wide range of responses, each influencing achievement and behaviour
these responses can affect individuals rather than whole groups and may change throughout the schooling process, and may also span social class, gender and ethnic differences

Question 19

Woods’ (1979) 8 adaptations to schooling

Answer 19

Pro-school
1. Ingratiation - conformity with eagerness to please teachers
2. Compliance - conformity, but just to benefit themselves (eg exam success), not because they like school
3. Opportunism - trying to gain both teacher and peer approval, moving between both depending on what benefits them both at the time
4. Ritualism - lack of interest and engagement, but appearing to conform by staying out of trouble
5. Retreatism - not actively opposed to school but indifferent (distracted, messing about etc)
6. Colonisation - accept school for what it offers them but reject it for what it forbids (taking opportunities to have fun as long as they avoid getting into trouble)
7. Intransigence - troublemakers who are indifferent to school and aren’t that bothered about the consequences of non-conformity
8. Rebellion - outright rejecting of schooling and its values, and involvement in anti-
school activity
Anti-school