2.2 Class & Internal factors

• What is the working class dilemma?

  WC pupils can gain symbolic capital from peers by conforming to WC habitus

  OR

  Gain educational capital by rejecting the working class identity and conforming to the school's values
• Polarisation

  Process of pupils responding to streaming in two contrasting ways
• Symbolic violence

  A conflict between a persons' WC identity and the school's values trying to fit into the school but potentially losing WC identity
• Symbolic capital


  The status, recognition and sense of worth that we are able to obtain from others
• What did Evans find about self exclusion?


  -He studied 21 South London WC girls during A levels & found they self excluded by not applying for top universities as they felt they wouldn't fit in due to their habitus

  -He also found that WC identity strongly tied to locality since only 4/21 intended to leave home for university
• What did Ingram (2009) investigate about group of WC students?


  She studied 2 groups of WC catholic boys from a deprived Belfast neighbourhood;

  1 Group passed 11+ and went to grammar school, therefore has MC habitus & high expectations

  1 Group failed 11+ and went to secondary modern, therefore has WC habitus & low expectations

  Both groups had a strong WC identity linked to physical location but different habitus based on their school & educational ability
• What are Nike identities?

  -WC students need to create status by constructing meaningful self-identities e.g. 'Nike style'

  -This WC nike identity os heavily policed by peers and nike appearance gained symbolic capital from peers & shielded them from bullying

  -Nike style conflicts school dress code & MC habitus of education that's stigmatises WC pupil identities

  -Nike style led to pupils rejecting HE, seeing it as unrealistic & undesirable
• What is Bourdieu's symbolic capital & violence?


  -He says that MC habitus isn't better but they have power to impose it on social institutions

  -MC pupils gain symbolic capital in school by status, recognition & sense of the world

  -WC habitus is defined as worthless & inferior which leads to symbolic violence

  -WC students feel they have to change the sleeves to be educationally successful
• What does Furlong say about the responses?


  He said that they aren't limited permanently to one response & can have different responses to different teachers
• What does Woods (1979) say are the 4 main responses to labelling?


  1. Ingratiation

  2. Ritualism

  3. Retreatism

  4. Rebellion
• How is anti school subculture formed?

  -Students placed in low streams lose self esteem and labelled a failure so they need to gain status in a different way

  -Form an anti school subculture to gain status among peers e.g. being rude, smoking, non attendance etc

  -They have gained status but have determined their outcomes- self fulfilling prophecy of failing in education
• How is pro school subculture formed?

  -Students put in high streams/sets value school & seek to gain status in the 'approved' way (academically)

  -Their values become that of the school

  -they are more likely MC & in Willis' study, people who conform are known as 'ear 'oles
• What is educational triage?

  Sorting students into 3 groups: hopeless cases, borderline C/D pupils & high achievers. All the time is focused on borderline C/D pupils
• What did Gilborn & Youdell study about the A-to-C Economy?


  -They studied 2 London secondary schools

  -Teachers were less likely to see working class & black pupils as able, meaning they were put in lower streams & entered for lower tier GCSEs

  -Unable to get good grades— widens class achievement gap

  -Linked streaming to publishing exam league tables

  -School ranked by exam performance which determines pupils & funding

  -Creates an 'A-to-C Economy' in schools which means all time, effort & resources focused on pupils who have potential to get 5 Cs at GCSE
• How can CAGE factors affect setting & streaming?

  Students are often put into sets & streams based on teacher's perception of those students or stereotypes
• What did Rosenthal & Jacobson find about the self-fulfilling prophecy?


  They told the school they had a test to identify 'spurters' & picked 20% randomly to be them

  They returned a year later & found 47% of 'spurters' had made significant progress

  Teachers beliefs influenced interactions with students through self-fulfilling prophecy

  Demonstrates interactionism, what people believe to be true has impacts even if not reality
• What are the steps of a self-fulfilling prophecy?

  Step 1- The teacher labels a pupil and makes a prediction based on this

  Step 2- The teacher treats the pupil accordingly & acts as if the prediction is true

  Step 3- The pupil internalises the teacher's expectation which becomes part of their self concept or self image

  Step 4- The pupil becomes the kind of pupil the teacher believed them to be in the first place & prediction is fulfilled
• What did Rist find out about labelling in primary schools?


  -He did a case study on an American kindergarten teacher who used information on pupils' home background & appearance to assign them to 2 groups:

  1. Tigers- fast learners, mostly MC & neat appearance, table close to teacher & given most encouragement

  2. Cardinals/Clowns- labelled as lower ability, mostly WC, tables furthest away & given lower level books & less chance to show knowledge
• What did ___ find out about labelling in secondary schools?

  (Dunne & Gazeley)

  -They argue that its the schools' fault that WC consistently underachieve

  -They interviewed teachers in 9 state schools and found that teachers normalise underachievement of WC & believed they couldn't do anything to change it but believed they could change MC underachievement

  -As a result they treated MC & WC differently by giving MC extension work & entered WC for easier exams which lead to DEA
• What did ___ find in her study of two English Primary schools?

  (Hempel-Jorgensen)

  She found the ideal pupil changes depending on the class makeup of the school

  Aspen Primary School (WC)- the ideal pupil is quiet, passive & obedient (in schools where behaviour is a problem, pupils are defined by behaviour not ability)

  Rowan Primary School (MC)- the ideal pupil has a strong personality, is academic & engaged (no behaviour problem so defined by ability)
• What did ___ do a study on? What did he find?

  (Becker)

  -Conducted 60 interviews with Chicago high school teachers

  -Found they judged pupils up against their image of the 'ideal pupil'

  -MC are closest to this & WC furthest away from this
• Bottom up approach

  Micro (focusing on individuals)
• Self-fulfilling prophecy

  A prediction that comes true because the prediction has been made
• Labelling theory

  People will react to being labelled & internalise theses labels which reinforces original label and becomes a master status
• What is ___ 'looking glass self'?

  (Cooley)

  People understand themselves through how others perceive and treat them which influences their own self concept
• What are examples of internal factors?

  Labelling

  Setting/streaming

  The self-fulfilling prophecy

  Pupil subcultures

  Pupil class identities