Class differences in achievement - external factors

• Cultural capital

  • This refers to the knowledge, attitudes, values, language, taste and abilities of the middle class. 
  • The MCs cultural capital gives them an advantage. 
  • This capital is gained through their primary socialization.
  • Such capital is highly valued in school, allowing them to be positively labelled and consequently outperforming their WC peers.
• Economic and educational capital

  • All three types of capital can be converted into one another.
  • MC children can convert their cultural capital into educational capital as they are able to secure better qualifications due to the value put onto them by the school.
  • MC parents are also able to use their economic capital to buy a house in a certain catchment area to get into better schools this is known as "selection by mortgage"
• Material deprivation - Housing

  • Poor housing can directly and indirectly affect educational achievement.  overcrowding, for example, can affect a childs ability to study. Disturbed sleep can also occur from sharing rooms. Poor housing can indirectly affect achievement through cold or damp housing causes illnesses which then cause a child to be absent from school, missing work.
• Material Deprivation - fear of debt

  • Going to University means debt through student loans. This may deter WC from going to university and therefore getting a better job. Working-Class students are debt adverse. (Callender and Jackson). WC children are 5x unlikely to go to university than MC. If WC students do go to university, they choose to stay local and commute to save money.
• Material deprivation - Diet and health

  • Howard (2001) notes that children in poorer homes have lower nutrition.. This affects health by lowering the childs immune system and energy levels. This can result in more absences from school, less concentration and focus in class.
  • Wilkinson found that the lower the social class, the more anxious, hyperactive and stressed the child is. 
  • Blanden and Machin found that children from low-income families externalize their behavior through things such as fighting. 
• Material deprivation - Financial support and the cost of education

  • The cost of school such as transport, uniform and schoolbooks place a burden on poorer families. As a result, poor children may have had me down items or secondhand items instead of new ones. This may result  bullying as they are not able to fit in with other children. According to Flaherty, fear of stigmatisation is why 20% of FSM children do not take it. Lack of funds may also mean that children must work instead of going to school to support their families. 
• Cultural deprivation

  • A nationwide study by the Centre of Longitudinal studies show that by the age of three, children from a disadvantaged background are a year behind those who are privileged. The gap only widens with age. This is the result of Cultural Deprivation; we need basic values, attitudes and skills for educational success that is acquired during primary socialisation. According to cultural deprivation theorists, working class families cannot provide this, resulting in culturally deprived children who underachieve. 
• Sugerman - WC subculture

  • Fatalism – the belief in fate, what'll be will be, there is nothing you can do to change your class or social position.
  • Collectivism – valuing being art of a group, over individually succeeding 
  • Immediate gratification – seeking immediate pleasure, rather than waiting to reap the rewards. 
  • Present time orientation – seeing the present as more important than the future.
• Language

  • Feinstein (2008) found that highly qualified (normally MC) parents use a better vocabulary around their children to challenge their cognitive ability to understand. By contrast, WC does not and therefore their children are deprived.
  • Criticism – Troyna and Williams argue that the issue is with the schools' attitude to language; teachers have a speech hierarchy and label MC speech as superior to WC and Black speech.
• Speech codes - Bernstein

  • The restricted code – used by the WC. Has limited vocabulary and is context bound (assumes the listener as had the same lifestyle experiences.) and based on slang.
  • The elaborated code - wider vocabulary, analytic ad mainly used by the MC. It is context free and also found in thing such as textbooks or exam paper.
  • This puts the MC at an advantage.
  • Criticisms – Gaine and George criticise this as it exaggerates and oversimplifies the differences 
• Parents education

  • Douglas (1964) found that WC put less value on education and therefore the child was not encouraged to do well and as a result fails. MC parents' emphasis constant expectations and support. Parents who did not have a good education will not understand how educational progress is made.  
• Cultural deprivation theory

  Takes a "deficit view" that blames victims for their own failure
• Cultural deprivation theory ignores the inequalities built into society
• Different, not deprived

  A child cannot be deprived of a culture, they all have one. The difference is that children who are WC are culturally different in a system that overvalues and prioritises MC values.
• Cultural Deprivation theory

  Leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Blackstone and Mortimore found that although parents want to attend parents' evenings etc, they struggle to do so due to working longer hours