Social Class

Question 1

Intellectual development (External)

Answer 1

• Wc families lack books and toys that would stimulate a child’s development.
• children begin school with out skills they need

Question 2

Bernstein + Douglas

Answer 2

middle-class mothers are more likely to choose toys that encourage thinking and reasoning and this prepares them better for educational success.

Question 3

Language (External)

Answer 3

• Language wc families use isn’t sophisticated enough for academic success as education caters to the mc
• Cannot comprehend exam questions and may struggle to understand lessons

Question 4

Bernstein - code

Answer 4

• Wc use restricted code
• Mc use elaborate code
• Education uses elaborate code

Question 5

Parental attitudes (External)

Answer 5

Wc parents don’t value education as much as mc parents

Question 6

Douglas - attitudes

Answer 6

Wc parents are less ambitious for their children so their children don’t try as hard at school

Question 7

Hyman - attitudes

Answer 7

Values of lower-class people reflect a self-imposed barrier to educational success; they believe that they have less chance of achieving individual success and therefore see no point in education.

Question 8

Sugarman - wc 4 key features

Answer 8

1. Fatalism – working-class people believe that their fate is ‘fixed’ and therefore see no point in working hard in education
2. Collectivism – working-class people value being part of a collective (group)
3. Immediate gratification – working-class people are unable to make sacrifices now (such as committing time to schoolwork). They prefer immediate gratification
   (living in the moment), rather than delayed gratification (waiting for hard work to pay off).
4. Present time orientation – seeing the present as more important than the future and therefore not having
   long-term goals

Question 9

Cultural capital (External)

Answer 9

• Wc are more likely to face cultural deprivation
• Mc children will spend free time doing educational activities such as theatre trips or museums giving them an upper hand in education

Question 10

Poor housing (External)

Answer 10

• Overcrowding has a direct impact as it means the child can’t study
• Families in temporary accommodation may move more frequently and disrupt the child’s education
• Poor housing can have indirect effects on their health and welfare leading to school absences

Question 11

Diet and health (External)

Answer 11

A poor diet can make it harder for a child to focus in school or make them get ill more easily

Question 12

Howard - diet and health

Answer 12

young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition weakens the immune system and leads to more absences from school due to illness

Question 13

Waldfogal + Washbrook - diet and health

Answer 13

Children from low income families are likely to live in cold, dark, damp, unclean, unsafe and overcrowded housing. These children are more likely to have poorer diets leading to more sickness, leading to absence.

Question 14

Hidden cost of education (External)

Answer 14

• Wc children may not have school equipment or miss out on experiences that could have enhanced their achievement

Question 15

Tanner- hidden cost of education

Answer 15

• uniforms, books and transport are a heavy burden on poor families
• Children may have hand me downs that may make them feel stigmatised or bullied

Question 16

Ridge - hidden cost of education

Answer 16

• Jobs e.g babysitting and paper rounds are taken on by kids in poverty and have a negative impact on their school work

Question 17

Labelling (internal)

Answer 17

Children may be labeled as hard to teach or not worth it

Question 18

Becker - ideal pupil

Answer 18

middle-class pupils are more likely to fit this characterisation than working-class pupils

Question 19

Rist - labelling

Answer 19

• Labeled as Tigers and clowns based where in the classroom they sit
• Mc tended to be tigers and Wc tended to be clowns
• Clowns received less teacher attention

Question 20

Streaming (Intetnal)

Answer 20

• Wc pupils likely to be in lower streams
• This can effect what they are taught
• Low stream teachers use more descriptive language so reducing access to the elaborate code

Question 21

Pupil subcultures (Internal)

Answer 21

• Wc students create subcultures in response to labelling and streaming
• Willis 12 wc lads

Question 22

Marketisation (Internal)

Answer 22

• Schools are under pressure to compete
• Outstanding schools can select who they enroll, tend to be mc
• Wc students have to join failing schools