Educational attainment and social class

?

Topic 4: Education and social class

Middle class children do better in school compared to working class children. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Material deprivation- the lack of money to buy possessions, poverty is linked with low attainment. Poor parents cant afford additional resources

2. Cultural capital- the level of educational resources and knowledge provided by the family. Middle class children have good access to this and will therefore do better in school. 

3. Cultural deprivation- working class children have less culture than middle class children.

4. Better living conditions- middle class children are likely to have better diets, place to study, access to the Internet etc. So will therefore be in a better position to learn and study. 

5. Teachers- middle class students are seen as more intelligent because they share the same norms and values as their teachers. This leads to labelling and self- fulfilling prophecy. 

6. Subcultures and peer groups- children who find it difficult to succeed, form social groups that reject the norms of the school. They gain status from being 'bad'.

1 of 2

Topic 4: Education and social class

Functionalists- claim that working class fail because schools are meritocratic (rewards in society goes naturally to those who are best performers) and therefore, they must not be the best pupils. 

Marxists- education systems exists to legitimise ruling class power, so the education system is biased against the working class, existing only to oppress poor pupils. 

Interactionists- schools are middle class institutions and that teachers label working class children as failures. Children live up to the labels by failing. 

Smith and Noble- poor parents cant afford additional resources to work. Poor housing quality also has an influence on low attainment. 

Basil Bernstein- problem is caused by working class children having lower language skills.

Bowles and Gintis- schools are middle class institutions and they pass on the norms and values of capitalist society. Schools just produce workers for society.

2 of 2

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Sociology resources:

See all Sociology resources »See all Education resources »