Cultural deprivation

• Cultural deprivation:

  1. Language
  2. Family structure
  3. Attitudes & values

  AO3: Criticisms
• 1. Bereiter & Engelmann


  language spoken by low income black-american families is inadequate for educational success.
• 1. Baker-bell


  B&E is just anti-black linguistic racism (labelling)
• 1. Demie & Mclean


  language & literacy are ranked far behind internal factors for impact on black caribbean underachievement.
• 2. poor socialisation


  Cultural deprivation argue that failure to adequately socialise children is due to dysfunctional family structure - Afro caribbean families are often lone parent - mothers

  • Driver: ignores positive female role model.
• 2. Sewell: fathers gangs & culture


  Argues it’s not the absence of fathers, but the lack of tough love/ fatherly nurturing that leads to emotionally & behaviouraly difficult adolescence.

  • It’s anti education peer groups & street groups.
  • Gillborn: it’s not this, but institutional racism.
• 2. Asian Families


  Sewell: Indian & Chinese place high value on education: asian work ethic.

  • Lupton: this is because Asian adult authority is similar to that of schools.
• 2. White w/c families

  These families also underachieve.

  w/c parents have a negative attitude to education but ethnic minorities view it as a way up.

  • They aspire to university (McCulloch)
• 3. Cultural deprivation


  They see low aspiration as a cause for underachievement - fatalistic subculture. BUT

  • Platt & Parsons found that ethnic minorities had higher career aspirations at ages 7-14 and saw the biggest gap between girls.
  • Archer: saw racism as a barrier, not low aspiration.
• AO3: Criticisms

  • Keddie: victim-blaming - ethnocentricity is to blame - different not deprived.
  • Labelling theorists: teacher racism, not low aspiration.
  • Raz: CD distracts from poverty & racism to victim-blame.
  • Material deprivation has a greater impact than cultural deprivation.
  • Aim-higher programme implemented to tackle low aspiration.