Sociology Education Topic 2

Question 1

What does Becker say about teacher’s labelling?

Answer 1

Teachers judge and label pupils according to how closely they fit the ideal pupil. This would therefore dampen the motivation of students who did not suit the ideal pupil, due to how teachers deferred their time away from them and unwilling to help.

Question 2

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 2

Students given a positive label, react to it by creating a positive self-concept , which means they are motivated to work and improve their grades. Works in reverse, negative labels leads to negative self concept and less motivation.

Question 3

Streaming
Gillborn and Youdell

Answer 3

Teachers labelled WC students as unintelligent, resulting in them being placed in Lowe sets and steams.
More likely to be placed in lower streams and entered for lower tier exams.

Question 4

Gillborn and Youdell

Answer 4

Link streaming to policy of publishing exam league tables. They rank each school according to its exam performance.

Question 5

A-To-C economy

Answer 5

System in which schoools focus their time, effort and resources on those pupils they see as having the potential to get 5 grade Cs and so boost the school’s league table position.

Question 6

Educational triage

Answer 6

A-to-C economy produces educational triage
1. Those who will pass anyways and left to get on with it
2. Those with potential, helped to get grade C or better
3. Hopeless cases, doomed to fail.

Question 7

Pupil subculture
Lacey

Answer 7

2 ways in which pupils subcultures developed
1. Polarisation - pupils respond to streaming by either moving to a. Pro-school subculture or an anti-school subculture.
2. Differentiation - form of streaming, those placed in higher streams gin a higher status.

Question 8

Hargreaves

Answer 8

Boys in lower streams were triple failures; failed 11+ exams, placed in lower streams and labelled as ‘worthless louts’. Solution to this was to form a group which provided status to those who flouted the school rules and guaranteed their educational failure.

Question 9

Symbolic capital

Answer 9

pupils socialised at home into MC tastes and preferences because schools have MC habitus

Question 10

Symbolic violence

Answer 10

WC pupils tastes are deemed to be tasteless + worthless

Question 11

Archer et al
Nike identities

Answer 11

WC pupils invest in ‘bike’ identities, leading to self-exclusion from education because it does not their identity and way of life; see it as unrealistic ( for cleverer and richer people) and undesirable ( does not suit their habitus)