social class in education Flashcards
(92 cards)
1
Q
A
2
Q
What are three material factors of why a child could be underperforming?
A
- Poor housing: It can cause illness if they contain damp, and they are often overcrowded, making it difficult for the child to do their work. They may also lack Wi-Fi to complete assignments, leading them to fall behind.
- Poor diet: Cheaper food is often over-processed, removing essential nutrients, which can lead to poor concentration and academic performance.
- Financial stress: This can cause students to worry, detracting from their schoolwork. They may also need to work part-time jobs, making them tired for school, and financial struggles may deter them from pursuing further education.
3
Q
How is social class measured in schools?
A
Through the pupil premium scheme.
4
Q
How can a parent’s view on education affect the student’s views?
A
Parenting styles: Working-class parents are often less educated, leading to less consistent parenting styles that may lack elaboration, resulting in a lack of independence or self-control in their children before school.
Middle-class parents are more likely to read to their children and help with homework, preparing them for school.
5
Q
What is future orientation?
A
A person who is always thinking about the future.
6
Q
What is delayed/deferred gratification?
A
Doing the work now even though it’s hard because you know you will get a good end result.
7
Q
What is individual effort?
A
How much work a person puts in.
8
Q
What is present time orientation?
A
Seeing the present as more important than the future, lacking long-term goals or plans, typically associated with working-class individuals.
9
Q
What is immediate gratification?
A
Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices for future rewards.
10
Q
What is fatalism?
A
A belief in fate - that ‘whatever will be, will be’ and there is nothing you can do to change your status.
11
Q
What is collectivism?
A
Giving priority to the goals of one’s group and defining one’s identity accordingly.
12
Q
What is Sugarman’s theory?
A
Sugarman argues that different values and attitudes of the middle and working class might influence children’s progress in school.
13
Q
What are the two types of language codes?
A
- Elaborated (middle class)
- Restricted (working class)
14
Q
Who thought of the language code theory?
A
Bernstein.
15
Q
What are the 3 types of capital in Bourdieu’s theory?
A
- Economic capital
- Educational capital
- Cultural capital
16
Q
What is Bourdieu’s theory?
A
Bourdieu rejects the idea of cultural deprivation, blaming the education system and capitalist society for educational underachievement, emphasizing cultural reproduction.
17
Q
What is economic capital?
A
Where parents can afford better schools and extracurricular activities, providing better opportunities.
18
Q
What is cultural capital?
A
Knowing how to behave in certain situations and understanding the values of different societies, including attending cultural events.
19
Q
What is educational capital?
A
Where the education system is biased towards higher classes, devaluing the working class and reinforcing social class divides.
20
Q
What is Putnam’s ‘social capital’?
A
It refers to features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.
21
Q
What is the social action/interactionist perspective?
A
Individuals interpret situations as they wish, and interactions shape their values and self-concepts, influencing educational attainment.
22
Q
What is the labelling theory?
A
The idea that deviance and conformity result not from what people do but from how others respond to those actions.
23
Q
What is Howard Becker’s theory?
A
The ideal pupil: Becker found that teachers judged students based on how closely they fit the ideal pupil model, often favoring middle-class students.
24
Q
What is Harvey and Slatin’s theory?
A
Labelling based on appearance: They found that teachers perceived students from higher social classes as more likely to succeed academically.
25
What is Rosenthal and Jacobson's study?
They randomly selected 20% of students to be labeled as 'spurters', and those students showed improved performance after a year.
26
Who are the theorists for cultural deprivation?
Douglas, Feinstein, Sugarman, and Bernstein.
27
Who are the theorists for cultural capital?
Bourdieu and Putnam.
28
Who are the labelling theorists?
Howard Becker, Harvey and Slatin, Rosenthal and Jacobson, Dune and Gazeley, David Hargreaves, Hempsl Jorgenson, Sharp and Green.
29
Who are the setting and streaming theorists?
Douglas, Ball, Keddie, Gillborn and Youdell, Smyth et al.
30
Who are the sub-culture theorists?
Hargreaves, Colin Lacey, Paul Willis.
31
Who are the theorists for pupils' social class identities and the school?
Archer et al., Ingram, Sarah Evans, Stephen Ball.
32
What is Douglas's theory (cultural deprivation)?
Douglas found that working-class parents placed less value on education, leading to lower motivation and achievement in their children.
33
What is Feinstein's theory (cultural deprivation)?
Feinstein argues that parents' education significantly affects their children's achievement, with educated parents providing better support.
34
What was Sugarman's theory (working-class culture)?
Sugarman believes that differing values between middle and working-class families influence children's progression in school.
35
What is Bernstein's theory?
Bernstein distinguishes between working and middle-class language use, affecting achievement.
36
What is an evaluation of Bernstein's code?
Critics argue that Bernstein generalizes middle-class language use and overlooks the effectiveness of working-class speech.
37
What is an evaluation of cultural deprivation?
Keddie argues that working-class culture is different, not inferior, and compensatory education programs aim to address cultural deprivation.
38
What is Bourdieu's theory?
Bourdieu rejects cultural deprivation, blaming the education system for working-class underachievement and emphasizing cultural reproduction.
39
What is Bourdieu's bias in the education system?
Bourdieu argues that schools legitimize inequalities, favoring higher social classes and devaluing working-class culture.
40
How can capitals be converted (Bourdieu)?
Bourdieu argues that cultural, economic, and educational capital are interrelated and can be converted into one another.
41
What is an evaluation of Bourdieu's theory?
Critics point to the vagueness of cultural capital and insufficient emphasis on material factors.
42
What is Putnam's 'social capital'?
Putnam's social capital refers to social networks that can bring benefits, often associated with middle-class families.
43
What is an evaluation of Putnam's social capital?
Putnam's concept highlights the importance of social networks but may overlook the role of economic capital.
44
What did Diane Raey find in her research?
Raey found that working-class mothers worked hard for their children's success, but cultural capital was more significant in middle-class families.
45
How does cultural capital affect higher education choices?
Raey, David, and Ball found that working-class children's habitus leads them to see elite universities as unattainable, unlike middle-class students.
46
What is the interactionist perspective?
The interactionist perspective focuses on small-scale studies of daily interactions in schools and classrooms, examining their effects on student learning.
47
What did Raey, David, and Ball find about habitus?
They argued that the habitus of working-class children leads them to see elite universities as 'not for the likes of them', while middle-class students have a sense of entitlement and detailed knowledge of prestigious universities.
48
What is the interactionist perspective?
The interactionist perspective focuses on small-scale, detailed studies of daily interactions in schools and classrooms, examining how these interactions affect student learning, behaviour, and educational progress.
49
What is Becker's Ideal pupil theory?
Becker found that teachers judged pupils based on how closely they fit the image of the 'ideal pupil', with middle-class students seen as closer to this ideal, leading to lower expectations for working-class students.
50
What is an evaluation of Becker's Ideal pupil theory?
Teacher bias can shape perceptions, affecting long-term student achievement. The limited sample of 60 teachers does not capture the full impact of labels.
51
What is Harvey and Slatin's labelling on the basis of appearance theory?
They conducted a study where teachers rated children's likely performance based on photographs, finding that higher social class pupils were perceived as more likely to succeed academically.
52
What are evaluations of Harvey and Slatin's labelling on appearances?
The study shows how labels can be based on appearance rather than ability, reinforcing class-based stereotypes. Its findings may not fully translate to different educational settings.
53
What is Rosenthal and Jacobson's self-fulfilling prophecy study?
They created a fake IQ test, telling teachers it was real, which identified students likely to 'spurt'. Upon returning, they found significant improvements in 47% of those identified.
54
What are evaluations of Rosenthal and Jacobson's self-fulfilling prophecy?
The study raises ethical concerns due to manipulation and has cultural specificity, limiting broader applicability.
55
What did Dunne and Gazely study about class and teacher expectations?
They found that teachers normalized working-class underachievement and believed they could help middle-class students, leading to different responses based on social class.
56
What is an evaluation of Dunne and Gazely's teacher expectations?
The study focuses on teacher perceptions without considering students' perspectives, which could provide a more complete understanding.
57
What was Hargreaves et al.'s study on deviance in the classroom?
They noted how teachers classify students in stages, leading to labels that can affect how students are perceived and treated.
58
What is an evaluation of Hargreaves et al. on deviance in the classroom?
The study focuses heavily on teachers' perspectives without exploring how students may resist or challenge these labels.
59
What was Hempel-Jorgensen's study on finding the ideal pupil?
Hempel-Jorgensen found that both students and teachers had their own ideas of the 'ideal pupil', which influenced students' self-perception and educational motivation.
60
What is an evaluation of Hempel-Jorgensen's ideal pupil study?
The study's focus on one geographical area and age group may limit its applicability to other settings.
61
What did Sharp and Green find about children learning at their own pace?
They found that middle-class children often started activities earlier than working-class children, leading to unequal access to help.
62
What is an evaluation of Sharp and Green at Mapledene?
The study shows how progressive educational practices fail to meet the needs of working-class pupils, reinforcing social class divides.
63
What is an evaluation of labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy?
Critics argue that labelling theory is too deterministic, while Fuller's study shows that students can resist negative labels.
64
What do Marxist critics say about labelling theory?
They argue that it overlooks wider power structures and reinforces class inequalities by valuing middle-class culture over working-class culture.
65
How do setting and streaming link to the self-fulfilling prophecy and class divisions?
Working-class students are often placed in lower sets due to teachers' lower expectations, leading to internalized low expectations and underperformance.
66
What did Douglas find out about streaming?
Douglas found that students placed in lower streams by age 8 showed a decline in IQ scores by age 11, suggesting streaming contributes to widening achievement gaps.
67
What did Ball (1981) find in Beachside Comprehensive?
Ball found that working-class students were disproportionately placed in lower streams, receiving less academic attention and leading to underachievement.
68
What does Keddie (1971) argue about knowledge in the classroom?
Keddie argues that streaming creates an unequal distribution of knowledge, with lower streams receiving simplified content that denies access to higher-level knowledge.
69
What was Gillbourne and Youdell's A-C economy?
They examined how schools allocate resources based on students' likelihood of achieving 5 GCSEs at grades A-C, often disadvantaging working-class students.
70
What are the negative effects of streaming on working-class students?
Smyth et al. found that students in lower streams tend to have negative views of school and become disengaged, leading to lower aspirations and attainment.
71
What is an evaluation of setting and streaming as an explanation for social class differences in achievement?
Systemic bias limits knowledge for working-class students, leading to self-fulfilling prophecies of underachievement.
72
What did Hargreaves find with subcultures?
Hargreaves identified two main subcultures: conformists, who sought academic success, and delinquents, who rejected school values and gained status through rebellious behaviour.
73
What did Colin Lacey use to explain how pupil subcultures developed?
Lacey used differentiation and polarisation to explain how streaming leads to pro-school and anti-school subcultures.
74
How did Paul Willis think working-class kids got working-class jobs?
Willis found that working-class boys resisted school values, leading to social reproduction where they ended up in similar working-class positions as their parents.
75
What were key findings from Willis's study?
The boys rejected school values, valued traditional masculinity, saw through meritocracy, and gained status through resistance.
76
What are evaluations of Paul Willis's lads study?
The study provides insight into resistance but has a small sample size and may romanticize the boys' behaviour.
77
What are evaluations of subcultures in explaining social class differences?
They provide insight into resistance but overlook diversity within the working class and external factors contributing to underachievement.
78
What does Archer say about symbolic capital and symbolic violence?
Archer explores how working-class pupils' identities interact with middle-class values, where symbolic capital is gained through alignment with middle-class tastes, while symbolic violence devalues working-class norms.
79
What are Archer's Nike identities?
Working-class pupils embrace consumer culture to express themselves, leading to conflicts with school values and a rejection of higher education.
80
What did Ingram find out about secondary schools vs grammar schools?
Ingram's study highlights conflicts between working-class identities and middle-class habitus in grammar schools, showing how symbolic violence affects academic success.
81
What did Ingram study?
Ingram studied boys from a Catholic deprived neighbourhood in Belfast, where some attended grammar school and others attended secondary school.
82
What is conflict habitus?
Conflict habitus refers to the clash between the working class identity ingrained in the local community and the middle class habitus of grammar schools.
83
What is symbolic violence in the context of education?
Symbolic violence highlights how working class pupils are forced to choose their identity and educational success, creating a barrier to achieving academic success in a middle class dominated education system.
84
What did Evans study about working class girls and university choices?
Evans studied working class girls from a South London comprehensive, finding they were reluctant to apply to elite universities or felt a sense of not belonging when they did.
85
What is Bourdieu's concept of self-exclusion?
Self-exclusion explains that working class pupils believe university isn't for 'the likes of us lot', rooted in their habitus.
86
What is the attachment to locality in Evans' study?
Many girls had a strong attachment to their local community, which prevented their social mobility.
87
What did Ball find about Beachside Comprehensive in abolishing streaming?
Ball's study showed that abolishing streaming prevented polarisation and subcultures, but differentiation still affected student outcomes and reproduced class inequalities.
88
What insights do these studies provide about class identity and educational success?
1) They provide insight into the clash between working class identities and middle class habitus in schools.
2) They support Bourdieu's concept of habitus, showing how ingrained class identities influence educational choices.
89
What is a critique of symbolic violence?
Symbolic violence may not fully account for how some working class students navigate the system successfully, and the theory can be deterministic.
90
What do researchers acknowledge about working class students' success?
Researchers acknowledge that while some working class students succeed, it doesn't explain why certain individuals overcome symbolic violence, raising questions about additional factors.
91
What might the focus on identity and symbolic capital overlook?
It might overlook the material constraints that limit working class students' educational success.
92
What do critics argue about studies on identity?
Critics argue that these studies overlook the diversity of the working class and overgeneralise their experiences.
