Pupil Identities and Subcultures

• Subcultures


  A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiate themselves from the parent culture to which they belong, often maintaining some of the founding principles but developing their own norms/values.
• Symbolic Capital (Bourdieu)


  Status, Recognition and Sense of Worth students able to obtain from others from same class. (Usually pupils will seek this sense of worth from M/C students)
• Symbolic Violence (Bourdieu)


  When an individual uses their Symbolic Capital in a negative way, a type of non-physical violence manifested in the power differential between social groups. (e.g. demonstrating superiority through values, beliefs and attitudes.)
• Working Class Dilemma


  The dilemma faced by working class pupils to achieve symbolic capital from their friends or academic capital by rejecting working class identity.
• Pro-School Subcultures (Characteristics)

  - committed to school values.

  - gain approval/status through academic success.

  - involved in the wider life of the school (e.g representing the school at events/ parents evenings.)
• Pro-School Subcultures (Types- Mac An Ghaill)


  The Academic Achievers:

  - seek to achieve academic success by focusing on traditional/academic subjects such as english, maths and the sciences.

  
  

  The New Enterprisers:

  - rejected the traditional academic curriculum but were motivated to study subjects such as business and computing which is seen as the route to economic success.
• Anti-School Subcultures (Characteristics)


  - Lower streams

  - Rejection of school values

  - Truanting

  - Disruption

  - Not doing homework
• Formation of Pupil Subcultures (Lacey)


  Differentiation:

  - The process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and behaviour. Streaming Is a form of differentiation, as it categorises pupils into different classes.

  
  

  Polarisation:

  - The process by which pupils respond to differentiation by moving towards one of two opposite poles or extremes, i.e. pro or anti-school subcultures.
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Peer Groups and Symbolic Capital)

  Peer Groups by reinforcing acceptable behaviours by excluding those who don't conform and giving status to those who do.

  (e.g. calling those that study, names like 'nerd' or 'geek')
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Symbolic Violence- Archer)


  Schools impose forms of symbolic violence against students whose identities are shaped by designer clothing or hyper- heterosexual feminine behaviour (usually W/C) which suggests to those students that education is not for them.
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (School Environments- Reay)


  Students align their ability with the type of school that they attend. Students who attend a poor performing school see themselves as poor students and are more likely to form anti-school subcultures, whereas those who attend high performing schools tend to form pro-school subcultures.
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Ethnocentric Curriculum- Ball)


  The current curriculum is very focused on M/C White British culture, what Ball refers to as 'Little Englandism'. This can make both ethnic minorities and girls feel excluded.
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Subject Choice)

  Schools reinforce gender stereotypes in subject choices- pushing girls to do expressive subjects and boys to do instrumental ones which reinforces gender traditional gender identity.

  This can also be achieved through stereotypical gender images within schools (e.g more male teachers for subjects like maths sand science and more images in textbooks that appeal to a specific gender).
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Uniforms)

  Uniform reinforces gender roles as girls are expected to wear skirts and blouses and boys to wear trousers and ties. This can also shape class identity with schools demanding certain standards of dress or pupils will be sent home.

  
  

  Most schools also do not take ethnic minority dress into account within their policies (e.g haircuts and hijabs)
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Sub-Cultures)

  Rejection from school can lead working class and minority ethnic groups to identify as being anti-authoritarian and therefore reject authority in all walks of life:

  (Studies by Fuller, Willis and Sewell)
• How Schools shape Pupil Identities (Labelling)

  Positive and negative labelling impacts of self esteem and self image.

  Students labelled negatively may assume that academic achievement is not part of their identity and therefore look towards more vocational course in the future.