Cultural Deprivation

• What are internal factors to educational achievement?

  Factors within schools and the education system
• What are external factors to educational achievement?

  Factors outside the education system
• What are examples of internal factors of educational achievement?

  • relationships & interactions between pupils and teachers
  • relationships & interactions between pupils
  • inequalities between schools
• What are examples of external factors of educational achievement?

  • The influence of home
  • Family life & background
  • Social class & poverty
  • Illness
• What is cultural deprivation?

  When working class families fail to socialise their children with basic "cultural equipment" for them to succeed
• What are the three main aspects of cultural deprivation?

  1. Intellectual Development
  2. Language
  3. Attitudes & Values
• Why do working class families fail to provide their children with proper intellectual development according to theorists?


  They lack the books, educational toys, and activities that would stimulate a child's intellectual development
• What studies prove that working class children are at an intellectual advantage when starting school?

  1. Newson and Newson (1963) studied child rearing practices in Nottingham. Middle class families have more stimulating homes effective for learning
  2. Reay (2000) Middle class parents invest more time and emotional labour into their children's education.
• What counts as cultural equipment?

  Language, self discipline, and reasoning skills
• Who was the first to claim that there were difference between working class and middles class speech codes?

  Basil Bernstein in 1990
• How could the working class students speech code be described?

  • restricted code
  • short, simple, unfinished sentences
  • ungiven explanations
  • meanings of words particularised to the speaker and listener
• How could the middle class students speech code be described?

  • elaborate code
  • explicit meanings with provided explanations
• How are working class children put to a disadvantage through speech code?

  Teachers use the elaborated speech code which may be harder to understand, however the middle class students are fluent in both the elaborated and restricted code
• What did theorists say was the main issue with working class attitudes towards education?

  • Douglas(1964) working parents placed less value on education and gave them less encouragement
  • Feinstein(1988) Came to a similar conclusion. Argued that parent's own education is the most important factor affecting children's achievement.
• How does a middle class parenting style differ and put middle class students at an advantage?

  • emphasises consistent discipline and high expectations
  • supports high achievement and encourages active learning
• How do working class or less educated parents parenting style differ and put working class children at a disadvantage?

  • harsh and inconsistent discipline
  • discourages independence and self control
  • leads to poor motivation and negative interactions with teachers
• How does a middle class family's use of income benefit middle class pupils and put them at an advantage?

  • spend income to promote child's educational success
  • better understanding of nutrition and child development - so they will buy better food and they can afford to do so
• How does a working class family's use of income put working class students at a disadvantage?

  • Lack resources to provide educational stimuli for cognitive development
  • Lack resources and time to provide proper nutritional food and values such as home cooked meals
• How does a middle class family's educational behaviour but middle class students at an advantage?

  • aware of what is needed to assist their children's educational progress e.g. educ activities
  • able to get expert advice on childcare and relationships
  • better relationships with teachers and members of authority
• What is fatalism?


  A belief in fate and that there is nothing you can do to change your status
• What middle class value does the belief in fatalism contrast?

  Social mobility and changing wealth or status through efforts
• What is collectivism?


  Valuing being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual
• What middle class view does collectivism contrast?

  Individualism and not being held back by group loyalties
• What is immediate gratification?

  Seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future
• What middle class value does immediate gratification contrast?

  Deferred gratification and making sacrifices now for greater rewards later
• What is present time orientation?

  Seeing the present as more important than the future and so not having long term goals
• Who identified the key features of working class subcultures?

  Sugarman (1970)
• What are the four key features of working class subculture?

  • Fatalism
  • Collectivism
  • Immediate gratification
  • Present time orientation
• Why does Sugarman argue these values exist in working class subculture and not middle class?

  1. m/c jobs are secure and offer continuous promotion - encourages ambition, long term planning and the investment of time and effort
  2. w/c jobs are less secure and have no career structure
  3. Parents pass these values onto their children through primary socialisation
• What are criticisms of the cultural deprivation theory?

  • Nell Keddie (1973) W/C children are culturally different, not deprived; they are put at a disadvantage by schools with m/c dominated values
  • Tessa Blackstone & Jo Mortimore (1944) w/c parents attend fewer parents evenings because they work longer/less regular hours - harder to keep in touch about progress
  • Barry Troyna & Jenny Williams (1986) the problem is not the child's language but the schools attitude towards it
• What was compensatory education?

  Schemes introduced to try and combat cultural deprivation by concealing the real cause of under achievement, namely poverty and material deprivation