CULTURAL FACTORS

• Pierre Bourdieu

  middle class have cultural capital which holds status. This is transferred to educational capital then economic capital
• Basil Bernstein

  restricted and elaborated speech codes. Elaborated is "correct" and what is taught, spoken by middle class
• Douglas

  uneducated parents place less value on education, so less ambitious for their children
• Bernstein and Young

  middle class are more likely to buy educational toys and books that stimulate intellectual development
• Barry Sugarman

  working class subculture, 4 features act as a barrier to educational achievement:

  fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification and present time orientation
• Sharon Gerwitz

  3 types of parents:

  privileged skill choosers

  semi skilled choosers

  disconnected local choosers
• Nell Keddie

  cultural deprivation is a myth, it is a victim-blaming technique. Working class have their own culture and are only deprived of the middle class culture
• cultural capital refers to the knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes and abilities of the middle class
• middle class children are more likely to develop intellectual interests and an understanding of what is required for success, this gives them an advantage in school
• the education system favours and transmits the dominant middle class culture
• working class find that school devalues their culture as rough and inferior, their lack of cultural capital leads to exam failure
• the working class get the message that education isn't for them so many leave or don't try
• cultural capital (marxist approach)

  looks at how the middle class have additional cultural tools that give them advantages in school

  cultural capital is set by the middle class and therefore legitimises the behaviours of the middle class
• cultural deprivation (new right approach)

  Victim blaming approach

  suggests that, through their own behaviours and choices the working class is deprived and deficient in society's norms and values, thus holding them back from success
• working class subculture

  participates in mainstream culture but has their own norms and values
• fatalism

  what will be will be

  things happen and it cannot be controlled
• collectivism

  the whole group, not just yourself

  give the group priority
• present time orientation

  live in the moment, dont look to the future
• immediate gratification

  enjoyment of pleasures of the moment, rather than enduring hard work now and deferring and getting greater pleasure later
• uneducated parents behaviour

  hatred towards school

  Lower values

  less verbal development

  cant help with school work

  misspelling

  not bothered with parents evenings

  say things like "we failed and we are fine"
• meritocracy

  a level playing field where everyone can better themselves through hard work and determination. everyone can access the equal opportunities
• Louise Archer

  schools have a middle class habitus so middle class students have an advantage. while working class culture is seen as inferior
• Louise Archer

  middle class students gain "symbolic capital" in school as their middle class habitus gains recognition and respect from the system and the teachers.
• middle class students are consciously and subconsciously told they have worth and value
• Louise archer

  working-class habitus is devalued, their vocabulary, clothing, appearance and manner are regarded as tasteless and worthless. Symbolic violence
• habitus

  who you are as a person.

  described how you act, think, perceive and approach the world and your role in it
• Symbolic violence

  the withholding of symbolic capital
• Louise Archer - Nike identities

  brands that are given worth in w/c culture are at conflict with the school's dress code.

  Achieving symbolic capital with peers is transferred to symbolic violence with teachers and middle class students
• Nicola Ingram

  working-class boys in a middle class grammar school

  Experiences huge pressure to fit in

  Callum was ridiculed by students for wearing a tracksuit on non uniform day

  he fit in with the neighbourhood habitus but not the schools habitus
• Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities Louise Archer


  working class girls gain capital from

  having a boyfriend

  being hyper-heterosexual eg hair, makeup, outfit

  being loud
• Sarah Evans

  21 working class girls from South London doing A levels

  reluctant to apply to elite unis as they felt they would not fit in ect

  Only 4 applied to unis far away, where they would need to move away from home