identity class and girls achievement Flashcards
(8 cards)
Identity, class & girls’
achievement:
Even though girls achieve better than before, it doesn’t
mean all girls are successful, there’s a social class difference in girls’ achievement.
EG: in 2013, only 40.6% of girls eligible for FSM achieved 5 A*-C GCSEs, compared to 67.5% of girls who did and weren’t on FSM.
Symbolic capital:
Archer (2010)- a reason for these differences is conflict between WC girls’ female identities and the values/ethos of school. Symbolic capital (status,
recognition and sense of worth we get from others) was used in her study to understand the conflict.
* Study found that the girls gained symbolic capital from their peers by performing their WC feminine identities.
* However- this caused conflict with the school, stopping them from getting educational capital (qualifications) & economic capital (MC careers).
- Archer found strategies girls followed to create a valued sense of self-adopting hyper-heterosexual female identity, being ‘loud’ & having a boyfriend.
Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities-
- The girls put a lot of time/effort into
constructing ‘desirable’ & ‘glamorous’ identities
like this. EG: one girl spent £40 a week on her
appearance. - Their performance of this identity got them
status from their peers, and avoided being
ridiculed for wearing the wrong brand. - However- it caused conflict with the school, like
being in trouble for too much makeup,
jewellery, etc and teachers saw these as a
distraction from education. - This caused the school to ‘other’ the girls and
define them as ‘not one of us’- incapable of
educational success and therefore deserving
less respect.
Archer says school’s ideal girl
pupil is de-sexualised and MC.
Boyfriends :identity class and girls achievement
Though this got girls symbolic capital, it got in
the way of education and lowered their
aspirations such as higher education and
‘masculine subjects like science.
* Instead- these girls aspired to settle down,
have children and work local jobs like
childcare.
Getting loud: identity class and girls achievement
Some WC girls adopted ‘loud’
identities- being outspoken,
independent and outspoken. EG: like
questioning a teacher’s authority.
*example of how it could bring a girl into conflict
This fails to conform to the school’s
ideal girl pupil who is passive and
submissive- causing conflict with
teachers and seeing their behaviour as
aggressive instead of assertive.
Working-class girls’ dilemma:
Either gain symbolic capital- from
peers by conforming to a hyper-
heterosexual female identity.
- Or gain educational capital- by
rejecting their WC identity and
conforming to the school’s MC ideal
female pupil.
Therefore Archer argues that WC female
identities and educational success
conflict with each other- and WC girls’
investment in their female identity is the
cause of their underachievement.
“successful” working class girls
Some WC still do succeed and go onto higher education, but Evan’s (2009) study shows they’re still disadvantaged by their gender and class identity.
* She found they girls wanted to go to Uni to increasing earning power, but to give back to their families instead of for themselves.
* This motive reflects their WC feminine identity as caring is a huge part of it, and many girls in the study wanted to stay with their family and do just that.
* Economic necessity was another reason for staying at home, as cost/fearof debt were worries of WC pupils
when applying to uni. However- study from home limited their choice of unis and market value of their degree.
* Archer shows that it wasn’t just an economic choice, but one that reflects their WC feminine identity and WC habitus by remaining local.
analysis of bernstein speech code
explain meaning of two codes
then explainn why elaborated code is used in education
for instance textbooks use it because they dont knnow who tehirr eaders are so they have to spell out their meanings very explicity in a way that will be understood universally
