Topic 5: Pupil Subcultures

Question 1

Are all pupil subcultures the same?

Answer 1

No.

Some conform to school rules and values whilst others devote their energy to disobeying.

Question 2

Why does Peter Woods (1983) think there are a range of subcultures within schools?

Answer 2

As there are a variety of ways of adapting to schools and school life.

Question 3

What are Woods’ 8 subcultures?

Answer 3

1 - Ingratiation.
2 - Compliance.
3 - Opportunism.
4 - Ritualism.
5 - Retreatism.
6 - Colonisation.
7 - Intransigence.
8- Rebellion.

Question 4

What is the ingratiation adaptation to school?

Answer 4

Those who try to win teacher’s approval and are positive about school.

Question 5

What does Woods mean by compliance?

Answer 5

Those who accept rules and values, and school as a means to further opportunities, however they aren’t wholly positive.

Question 6

What is opportunism?

Answer 6

Those who try to achieve peer group status and teacher approval.

Question 7

What does ritualism mean?

Answer 7

Those who just get on with it even if they aren’t concerned about success of approval.

Question 8

What is meant by retreatism?

Answer 8

Deviants who reject school norms and mess around but do not seek to directly challenge teacher authority.

Question 9

What is colonisation in regards to subcultures?

Answer 9

Trying to get away with as much as possible without getting into trouble (common in 6th formers).

Question 10

What did Woods mean by intransigence?

Answer 10

Rejecting importance of academic success and accepted school standards.

Question 11

Finally, what is the rebellion way of adapting to school?

Answer 11

Reject school and try to pursue other goals.

Question 12

What do all subcultures have in common?

Answer 12

Their members gain a sense of status, belonging and mutual support.

Question 13

What did Hargreaves (1967) find about working class, anti-school subcultures?

Answer 13

Mainly found in bottom streams as a result of them being labelled as “low-stream failures”.
They aim to earn peer respect as they cannot earn status within the school’s mainstream values.

Question 14

What do both Hargreaves and Willis refer to the pro and anti-school subcultures as?

Answer 14

Homogenous, coherent groups that share their own sets of values.

Question 15

How does Woods criticise Hargreaves and Willis?

Answer 15

Believes they are being too simplistic.

Pupils adapt in a variety of ways - study of subcultures is more complex than Willis and Hargreaves made it out to be.

Question 16

Where did Woods get his idea of adaptations from?

Answer 16

Merton’s strain and anomie theory.

Question 17

Male subcultures:

How did the male subcultures of the early 1970s make sense?

Answer 17

Their members all got jobs and they developed coping strategies through these subcultures to deal with work monotony.

Question 18

Male subcultures:

Why is the idea of anti-school subcultures now a bit more complex?

Answer 18

The economy has changed and those menial, manufacturing jobs are nearly all gone.

Question 19

Male subcultures:

According to Hollingworth and Williams (2009), how have working class, anti school subcultures changed?

Answer 19

They are no longer seen as “lads”, rather “chavs”.

Question 20

Male subcultures:

What did Hollingworth and Williams find in relation to Middle Class subcultures?

Answer 20

Great variety based on different types of consumption.

However, they all had at least some positive attitudes to schooling.

Question 21

Male subcultures:

In his study on schooling, work, masculinity, and sexuality, what subcultures did Mac an Ghaill (1994) find?

Answer 21

1 - Macho lads: Hostile to authority and learning - physical work could not shape their identity as Willis had said.
2 - Academic achievers: Skilled wc who took trad route to social mobility. Had coping strategies to deal with effeminate stereotyping.
3 - New enterprisers: Pro school and embraces new vocationalism, using school-industry links to gain success.
4 - Real Englishmen: MC pupils who saw their culture as superior to that of schools. Aspired to uni and pro careers so achieved academic success in an effortless manner.
5 - Gay students: Saw schools as homophobic, taking adv of the naturalness of hetero relationships.

Question 22

Female subcultures:

What did Mac an Ghaill say about the vocational curriculum?

Answer 22

Higher status courses (Business, computing) were male dominated.
Girls occupied lower status courses - retail or community placements.

Question 23

Female subcultures:

What did Mac an Ghaill state about girls at school?

Answer 23

Girls disliked macho masculinity but sought boyfriends.
Lower class girls saw work as a marriage market.

Question 24

Female subcultures:
What did Griffin (1985) find with regards to white working class women in their first two years of employment?

Answer 24

They formed small friendship groups rather than large anti-authority groupings.
Their deviance was defined by sexual promiscuity, not trouble-making, and their school cultures did not continue into the workplace.

Question 25

Female subcultures:

What did Griffin note as girls’ three possible routes?

Answer 25

1 - Labour market to secure a job.
2 - Marriage market to find a husband.
3 - Sexual market whereby they’d have lots of relationships but keep reputation intact to not hinder marriage prospects.

Question 26

Female subcultures:

Are girls negative about school?

Answer 26

No.

They are generally positive and their subcultures reflect this.

Question 27

Female subcultures:

What did Mirza (1992) find in her study of black girls?

Answer 27

In her study of black girls (15-19), she found that they valued education but thought teachers were racist.
They based subcultures on ethnic lines, valuing education but not the institution of school.

Question 28

Ethnic subcultures:

What usually drives their subculture responses?

Answer 28

Reject differential treatment based on race and gender.

They respond in a way to cope and counter the negative experiences, however it does hurt their education.

Question 29

Ethnic subcultures:

What is the general trend?

Answer 29

Black boys reject school and choose street cred and inconspicuous consumption.
Black girls aim to achieve in alternative ways, rejecting low teacher expectations.

Question 30

Ethnic subcultures:

What did Louise Archer (2003) find about Muslim boys in the North West?

Answer 30

Drew on African-American gangsta culture - talk tough and macho identity.
However, affected by familial expectations surrounding masculinity so sought success to be the breadwinner.