Diversity - Social Class

Question 1

Bearison’s theory:

Answer 1

position-oriented and person-oriented families

Question 2

what is a position-oriented family?

Answer 2

‘closed families’
working class
shared context
likely to share common views/assumptions

Question 3

what is a ‘person-oriented’ family?

Answer 3

‘open-families’
middle class
more impersonal
less similar context
less likely to assume shared views

Question 4

some evaluation points of Bearson’s theory:

Answer 4

❌very broad generalisation
❌too simplistic
❌reductive

Question 5

what is restricted code?

Answer 5

how we speak to people who share similar interests/experiences or expectations of the world

vocab is simple
conversation is predictable

Question 6

what is elaborated code?

Answer 6

language use is less concerned with the group and more with the individual and their uniqueness

wider vocabulary
conversation harder to predict

Question 7

Malcolm Petyt (1985) theory:

Answer 7

studied ‘h’ dropping in Bradford.
he found that 12% of upper middle class people dropped the ‘h’ whereas 93% of lower working class people did.

Question 8

what does Petyt’s study summarise?

Answer 8

the higher class someone is, the more traditional Standard English they typically use.

judgements can be made about economic position and education level based off of how we speak.

Question 9

what are some evaluative points on Petyt’s study?

Answer 9

✅ actual study with evidence
✅ broad range of social classes
❌ only in Bradford
❌ 37 years old - true now?