Working class girls’ underachievement Flashcards
Working class girls’ underachievement
Not all girls are successful in education.
Class also plays a factor and w/c girls tend to underachieve.
They do better than w/c boys, but worse than m/c girls and m/c boys.
Archer et al
w/c girls underachieve because of the conflict between their w/c feminine identity and the school’s values, which are
at conflict. This leads to their educational underachievement.
When w/c girls experience symbolic violence from teachers, they gain symbolic capital from their peers and create a sense of self (their
feminine identity)
3 ways girls gain symbolic capital according to archer
adopting a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity
having boyfriends
being ‘loud’
How does adopting a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity gain u symbolic cap
by investing time, effort and money into their appearance which combines black urban American style with unisex sportswear and ‘sexy’ clothes, hairstyles and make up. This helps them achieve status from their peers, however it brings them into conflict with the school as it often breaks the school rules, e.g. wearing make up. The girls’ rule
breaking leads the school to see them as incapable of educational success. Therefore, girls experience symbolic violence at school –
harm done to an individual by making their culture appear worthless.
How does having boyfriends gain u SC (symbolic capital)
which also creates symbolic capital (sense of worth and respect) for the girls from their peers, it distracts them
from their studies and lowers their aspirations – they become focused on settling down and having children, working locally in
feminine jobs such as childcare, they lose interest in going to university or studying sciences and developing careers.
How does being ‘loud’ gain u SC
by being outspoken, independent and assertive, e.g. questioning teachers’ authority, which leads to conflict as
teachers perceive the girls’ assertiveness as aggression.
How does gaining SC lead to problems in edu
When w/c girls perform their w/c feminine identity, they gain symbolic capital (respect, status) from their peers, but this leads to conflict
with the school as it often breaks the school rules which then leads to underachievement.
Therefore, w/c girls clearly face a dilemma – they either gain respect from their peers (but that leads them to underachieve) or they
abandon their w/c habitus and conform to the school’s rules (in which case they’ll do well at school).
Some w/c girls cope with this by defining themselves as ‘good underneath’ – teachers see and treat them as if they were bad, but they try to believe they are good to give themselves a sense of worth when school makes them feel worthless.
Evans
Even though most w/c girls underachieve, some do well and Evans studied 21 high achieving 6th Form w/c girls.
She found that they wanted to go to university to increase their earning power so they can help their
families. Therefore, they were not pursuing university for themselves, but for their families’ benefit.
Evans argues the girls’ motivation to go to university is a reflection of their w/c feminine identity as ‘caring’ is a crucial part of that identity. As a result, the girls also wanted to stay living at home while
studying so they can be around to help their families.
However, living at home limited the choice of university for the girls and the market value of their degree, which would have limited their future career opportunities.
Evans argues the girls self-excluded from top universities by choosing to live at home.
Therefore, even the high achieving w/c girls are disadvantaged by their w/c feminine identity, even though they do not see it that way.
