social class

• Young- deviance


  Bulimic society. citizens are encouraged to worship money and status, but many are excluded from achieving these things.

  • sees working class youth deviance as an emotional response to social exclusion which is driven by a strong desire for inclusion.
• Harding - Gang members in south london- deviance


  • Using the analogy of the casino, he saw gangs as a social arena of competition where members struggle for distinction, status and survival. 
  • Status is determined by getting 'street capital' which is like accumulating lots of chips in a casino.
• Decker and Van winkle- deviance


  -Pushes and Pulls

  - Pulls: Status & excitement and money-making opportunities they provide for working class youth. 

  -Pushes: Feelings of exclusion which may push them towards the status. 
• Willis (neo-marxist) - anti school


  • 12 'lads' saw themselves as school failures, but turned this around to be a good thing. 
  • Boys spent most of their time at school 'havin' a laff'. 
  • They knew they'd be getting jobs in the local factory like their dads, so did not share the school's value consensus.
• Lacey - anti school


  • Study on secondary school found that pupils arrived with pro-school norms and values. 
  • Setting pupils in terms of ability emphasised competition between pupils leading to demoralisation among those identified as having lower ability, who tended to come from lower class.
• Mcdonald and Marsh


  • Supported Willis' in their findings that the young working-class people in Teesside still reject academic success.
  • Believed that teachers were not bothered about them and felt it was not good to be seen to be trying hard or doing well at school due to peer pressure and anti-school subcultures.