Education : Willis

• Willis

  Willis draws on the Marxist approach but is also an Interactionist - he recognises that schools do not produce a willing and obedient workforce, as a day in any secondary school classroom will prove.
• Willis

   Willis carried out a piece of research in Wolverhampton in the 1970s, following a group of boys he called 'The Lads'.
• Willis

  He found that they had an anti-school culture of their own - rejecting both the establishment and the other students who conformed and followed the rules (they called them the 'ear'oles').
• Willis

  These boys did not want to gain any qualifications but saw school as a barrier between them and the world of work.
• Willis

  They saw 'having a laff' as a way to cope with the boring and mundane workload; this mirrors the attitude seen on the 'shop-floor' of many industrial and commercial workplaces.
• Willis

  Willis says that the school environment for this type of student prepares them for the manual or semiskilled workplace where they will end up.