Topic 2 - Class differences in achievement (2) Internal factors - Pupils' class identities + the school

Refers to 'dispositions'/ learned, taken-for-granted ways of thinking, being + acting shared among social class. Includes tastes + preferences about lifestyles + consumption, outlook on life + expectations of what is normal + realistic for 'people like us'. Formed in response to position in class structure.

Not intrinsically better than other's, but m/c has power to define its habitus as superior + to impose it on ed sys -> school higher value on m/c preferences.

Linked to Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital.

Pupils socialised into m/c tastes gain 'symbolic capital' - recofnised from school, deemed to have worth. Vice versa for w/c.

Bourdieu calls withholding of symbolic capital 'symbolic violence'. Keeps w/c 'in their place'.

Clash between w/c pupils' habitus + m/c schools' habitus. Result - w/c students may experience world of education as alien + unnatural.

Eg, Archer found w/c pupils felt to be educationally successful, would have to change how they talked + presented themselves - 'losing yourself' for educational success.

Symbolic violence -> alternative ways of creating self-worth - constructed meaningful class identities for themselves by investing heavilty in 'styles', especially through wearing a lot of branded clothing eg Nike - way of 'being me'. Girls adopted hyper-heterosecual feminine style.

Style performances heavily policed by peer groups + not conforming - 'social suicide'. Right appearance earns symbolic capital + peer approval. At same time, conflict w/ school dress code. Teachers opposed to 'street style', as reflected school's m/c habitus. Risked being labelled rebels.

Archer argues school's m/c habitus stigmatises w/c pupils' identities. performances of style a struggle for recognition.

Nike styles play part in w/c rejection of higher education, which they see as unrealistic + undesirable:
 - unrealistic - not for 'people like us', for richer, posher, more clever people - wouldn't fit in. Unaffordable + risky
 - Undesirable - wouldn't 'suit' preferred lifestyle/habitus

Ingram's (2009) study of 2 groups of w/c Catholic boys from same deprived area in Belfast. 1 group passed 11+ - grammar school. Other group failed - local secondary. Grammar - strong m/c habitus, high expectations, academic achievement. Secondary - low expectations of underachieving pupils.

Ingram found having w/c identity inseperable from belonging to w/c locality. Neighbourhood's dense networks of family + friends key part of boys' habitus - gave intense feeling of belonging. Sportswear also key part.

However, Ingram notes w/c communities place emphasis on conformity. Boys experience pressyre to 'fit in' - particular problem for grammar school boys, tension between habitus of w/c neighbourhood + m/c school. Eg 1 boy (Callum), ridiculed by classmates for coming in in tracksuit on mufti day - example of symbolic violence.

Despite inequalities in ed, many more w/c go to uni. Even here, clas between w/c identity + habitus of higher ed barrier to success - partly due to self-exclusion.

Evans (2009) studies group of 21 w/c girls from south London comp studying A levels. Found reluctant to apply to elite eg Oxbridge, found few who did apply felt sense of hidden barriers of not fitting in. Also found strong attachment to locality. Only 4 of 21 intended to move away from home to study. Ray et al (2005) - self-exclusion from elite unis anrrows opportunities + limits success.

According to Bourdieu (1984), many w/c think of places eg Oxbridge as being 'not for the likes of us'. Comes from habitus inc beliefs of what opportunities really exist for them + whether they 'fit in'. Becomes part of identity.

Studies show consistent pattern of m/c ed sys devaluing experiences + choices of w/c as worthless/inappropriate

 - W/c pupils' habitus + identities formed outside of school may conflict w/ m/c school's internal habitus -> symbolic violence.

 - W/c pupils using restricted speech code may be labelled as less able -> self-fulfilling prophecy.

 - Dunne + Gazeley show - internal factor, what teachers believe about w/c home backgrounds (external), produces underachievement.

 - Poverty (external) may lead to bullying + stigmitisation by peers (internal). May lead to truanting + failure.