Class differences

• Class Differences in Achievement

  • Social class factors in causing class differences in achievement
  • Pupils in education
  • Manual workers less likely to go to university
• Factors in causing class differences in achievement


  • Working-class subculture
  • Language
  • Parents' education
• Working-class subculture


  • Immediate gratification
  • Fatalism
  • Low value on education
• Elaborated code


  More analytic, with wide vocabulary and complex sentences, used in education
• Restricted code


  Less analytic and more descriptive, limited vocabulary, formed of simple sentences or gestures
• Parents' education


  • Parenting style
  • Parents' educational behaviours
  • Use of income
• Cultural deprivation theory blames the victims for their failure and assumes working-class children underachieve due to their own and their parents' deficiencies
• The working class are not culturally deprived - they simply have a different culture from the school, which puts them at a disadvantage
• Cultural deprivation theory ignores the impact of school factors such as labelling, and the impact of material factors such as poverty
• Cultural deprivation theory has led to policies such as compensatory education that blame under-achievement on lack of aspiration and poor parenting