Social class

• Social class differences in achievement is between working class and middle class pupils
• Determining a pupil's social class

  Most sociologists use parental occupation
• Social class examples


  • Working class: social group that consists of manual labourers and shop workers
  • Middle class: social group with highly skilled occupations and higher incomes
• Sociologists are interested in the reasons why these class differences exist and have put forward a number of explanations, which can be grouped into internal and external factors
• Factors that can influence pupil's performance in school

  • Internal factors: Teacher-pupil relations, Pupil subcultures, School rules
  • External factors: Money, Educational resources, Parental involvement, Wider societal factors
• Labelling


  Attaching a meaning or definition to someone
• Studies of labelling have been carried out by interactionist sociologists who are interested in the ways in which teachers label pupils and the effects of such labels on their performance
• Teachers label pupils


  It affects their performance
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  A prediction that comes true simply by virtue of having been made
• Teachers' expectations can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in pupils' achievement
• Streaming pupils by ability can reinforce the message that their teachers have about their potential
• Research shows that the streaming of pupils, especially at a young age, can have a negative impact on the achievement of those placed in lower streams
• Pupil subcultures are groups of pupils who share common values, attitudes and behaviours that differ from the dominant culture of the school
• Pre-school subculture


  Formed by pupils who are close to teachers' concept of the ideal pupil
• Anti-school subculture


  Formed by pupils who rebel against the formal and hidden curriculum in schools, devaluing education and challenging teachers' authority
• Pupils who form anti-school subcultures are often found among students placed in low streams and are more likely to come from working class backgrounds
• Being placed in low streams undermines their confidence, affects their status and leads to poor achievement as a result of labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy
• Working class pupils' identities

  How they relate to school achievement
• Habitus


  • Dispositions, status and behaviors that are given from outside the individual, shaped by social class
• Working class pupils


  Have less cultural capital and symbolic violence is exerted on them by the school
• Middle class pupils


  Have more cultural capital and the school's habitus matches their own
• Working class pupils often can't separate themselves from their working class locality and community pressure, creating tension with the middle class school habitus</b>
• Working class people now go to university but often find their working class and higher education habitus clashing, leading to self-exclusion
• Working class pupils may not apply to elite universities due to a perceived lack of fit (Bourdieu)
• Working class pupils may not leave their locality to study, narrowing their university choices
• Language


  A key factor contributing to class differences in educational achievement
• Working class children tend to have less developed language skills by age 3 compared to more privileged children
• This is because working class children are exposed to a less elaborated language code, which impairs their ability to succeed in the education system
• However, the language deficit explanation has been criticized as overly simplistic, as working class children can achieve educational success despite language differences
• Peter Woods (1979): The Variety of Pupil Responses

  Pupils are able to respond to schooling and streaming in a variety of ways, rather than simply developing pro- or anti-school subcultures
• Pupil responses

  • Ingratiation
  • Compliance
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Furlong (1984) argues that many pupils are not committed to any one response but move between different types of attitudes and behaviours depending on lessons and different teachers
• Labelling Theory

  The idea that negative labelling of pupils leads to placement in lower streams, which in turn leads to development of anti-school subculture and underachievement
• Critics point out that labelling theory research shows schools are not neutral or fair institutions but can actively create social class inequalities
• Critics also point out that labelling theory has limitations, such as not accounting for subconscious results in self-fulfilling prophecy, and the possibility of teachers' prejudice from labels
• Symbolic Capital

  The recognition and status given to certain forms of cultural knowledge and behaviours by schools
• Habitus

  The way of thinking, acting and behaving that is shaped by social class
• "Nike" Identities

  Identities constructed in opposition to, or in contrast with, other social classes
• Working class boys attending grammar schools or secondary schools with different habitus still couldn't separate themselves from their working class locality and community pressure, creating tension with the middle class school habitus
• Working class people now go to university but often find their working class and higher education habitus clashing, leading to a process of self-exclusion where they don't apply to certain universities for fear of not fitting in