Topic2 Pupil Identities

Question 1

What does habitus mean

Answer 1

Social class affects your ways of thinking, ideas, values, preferences that are shaped by social class

Question 2

What does symbolic capital mean

Answer 2

MC believe their habitus is superior and it should gain status and recognition from the school. MC habitus is valued over WC habitus

Question 3

What does symbolic violence mean

Answer 3

WC are made to feel like they need to change their lifestyle and choices to be successful. However, they find this hard and so believe education is not for them as education does not except their views or make them feel part of the education system

Question 4

What does Archer et al focus on

Answer 4

The interaction between wc pupil’s identities and school and how this produces underachievement

Question 5

As many wc students felt symbolic violence, what did this lead them to create

Answer 5

Alternative ways of creating self-worth, status and value. They did so by constructing meaningful class identities by investing in ‘styles’ especially by wearing branded clothing such as Nike

Question 6

Archer et al- although student’ appearance’s conflicted with the school dress code, what did students earn

Answer 6

Symbolic capital

Question 7

What did Archer argue that the schools’s mc habitus leads teachers to do

Answer 7

Interpreting the ‘street’ style of wc pupil’s as evidence of bad taste and therefore they stigmatise wc pupil’s identities

Question 8

Archer et al- what may wc pupils choose from education as a result of having ‘nike’ identities and educational marginalisation

Answer 8

Self-elimination or self-exclusion , in other words, not only do they ‘get the message’ that education is not for the likes of them, but they actively choose to reject it because it does not fit in with their identity or way of life

Question 9

What did research by Evans find out

Answer 9

That the clash between wc identity and the habitus of higher education is a barrier to success- partly due to a process of self-exclusion e.g. not applying to elite universities as they are ‘not for the likes of us’

Question 10

In 2013 how many girls from poor families achieved 5 or more GCSEs

Answer 10

40.6% of girls from poorer families achieved 5 or more GCSEs where as 67.5% of those not on FSMs

Question 11

According to feminists such as Archer et al …

What is the one reason for the differences in girls acheivement

Answer 11

It is due to the conflict between wc girls’a feminine identities and the values and ethos of the school. In the study of wc girls she used the concept of symbolic capital to understand this conflict

Question 12

Archer et al- what are the 3 strategies that girls followed for creating a valued sense of self

Answer 12

• hyper-heterosexual feminine identities
• boyfriends
• being loud

Question 13

What does Archer say that is a wc girl’s dilema

Answer 13

Archer argues that wc feminine identities and educational success conflict with one another and the former leads to underachievement in the latter. They are therefore faced with a dilemma of either gaining symbolic capital from their peers by conforming to a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity or gaining educational capital by rejecting this

Question 14

What did Evans find out (2)

Answer 14

• Evan’s research on 21 wc sixth form girls in a south London comprehensive school found that even they may be disadvantaged by their gender and class identities
• she found that girls wanted to go to university to increase their earning power to help their families rather than themselves

Question 15

Research by Evans-

What does the ‘caring’ aspect of wc feminine identity produce

Answer 15

It produces a desire to live at home with their families while studying.

Question 16

What does Connell argue that school reproduces

Answer 16

That school reproduces ‘hegemonic masculinity’: the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of female and gay identities

Question 17

What do feminists argue

Answer 17

That experiences in school act as a form of social control to reproduce patriarchy

Question 18

What are the 5 ways that school reproduces patriarchy

Answer 18

• verbal abuse
• male teachers
• male gaze
• double standards
• female peer pressure groups- policing identity

Question 19

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-verbal abuse

What does Connell man by a ‘rich vocabulary if abuse’

Answer 19

It is used by pupils to police one another’s sexual identities through negative labels. Name-calling puts girls down if they behave in a certain way and act ad a form of social control to make them conform to male expectations

Question 20

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-verbal abuse

What does Lees note

Answer 20

That boys call girls ‘slags’ if they appear sexually available, but there is no equivalent term for males

Question 21

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-verbal abuse

What did Mac An Ghaill find out

Answer 21

That anti-school working class boys’ subcultures use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity. They called the other wc boys who worked hard, ‘dickhead achievers’ or ‘gay’ for being friendly towards teachers or girls

Question 22

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-teachers

What did Haywood and Mac an Ghaill find

Answer 22

That male teachers reinforced gender identities by telling boys off for ‘behaving like girls’ and ignoring boys’ verbal abuse to girls

Question 23

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-teachers

What do Askew and Ross argue

Answer 23

That male teachers’ behaviour can subtly reinforce gender e.g. ‘rescuing’ female colleagues from disruptive classes

Question 24

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-the male glaze

What is this

Answer 24

It is a visual form of social control where male pupils and teachers look at girls ad sexual objects. Boys who don’t participate in this form of surveillance may be labelled as ‘gay’- also a form of social control

Question 25

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-double standards

What does this mean

Answer 25

Where moral standards are applied to one group reflecting patriarchal ideology.

Question 26

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-double standards

What did Lees find out

Answer 26

That boys boast about their sexual exploit and conquests, but label girls’ negatively for the same behaviour

Question 27

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-female peer groups- policing identity

What did Archer find out

Answer 27

That wc girls gain symbolic capital by performing a hyper-heterosexual identity. Female peers police this identity and girls risk being called a ‘tramp’ if they fail to conform.

Question 28

Ways in which school reproduces patriarchy
-female peer groups- policing identity

What did Ringrose find out

Answer 28

That wc girls faced a tension between an idealised feminine identity (loyalty to peer group) and a sexualised identity (competing for boys). ‘Slur shamming’ and ‘frigid shaming’ are social control labels used to police each other’s identities