Class is something that is often defined by ones income, job, and family background, the area in which they live or indeed the schools or universities they have chosen to attended. This criteria is used to label people as a certain class and is something that can be seen in education through the likes of theories such as cultural capital. In this essay I am going to compare and contrast differences between middle and working class experiences of education focusing on two main theories; Cultural capital and social reproduction. I am going to concentrate upon the primary sector in oppose to secondary or higher education due to the fact I believe that primary school is where most children develop their personalities which they carry with them in further life and it is their first academic experience; therefore it is where social class first becomes clearly noticeable. In relation to these theories I am going to research into the argument that parents have a strong influence on their child’s education from this young age.
The first difference you see between the middle and working class in education is the selection of primary schools as for some it is the first time they are going to enter into the academic world. At this point the family as a whole are entering into “unfamiliar worlds” (Jackson and Marsden, 1966, page 99) in the process of selecting and applying for schools. The middle class aim is to have their children go to a successful school with a good Ofsted report just like the working class. However it is harder for the working class to get into these schools due to a range of factors. Some of these restricting factors are their knowledge of the system and economic status or wealth; they may not have the facilities for tra...
... middle of paper ...
...ding as well as reinforcing social class through children’s parents.
Works Cited
Avis, J (2007) Education, policy and social justice. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Ball, J (2003) Class strategies and the education market. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Bartlett, S and Burton, B (2007) Introduction to education studies. 2nd ed. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Concern InfoTech Pvt. Ltd. (2013) Socialization [online]. [Accessed 11th December 2013]. Available at: < http://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Socialization.php>.
Jackson, B and Marsden, D (1966) Education and the working classes. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul plc.
Matheson, D (2008) An introduction to the study of education. 3rd ed. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
Swartz, D (1997) Culture and power, the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. London: The University of Chicago Press.
The theories of Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Pierre Bourdieu, Basil Bernstein and Shirley Brice Heath represent the deterministic end of the social reproduction perspective. These theories mainly involve school, the ideas of cultural capital, habitus, and linguistic cultural capital and can help explain more in depth how the reproduction of classes continue through generations, and how this reproduction is accepted.
Capital culture as said above include cultural deprivation which means the basic values, attitudes and skills that are needed for education success through primary socialization in the family. Some cultural deprivation theorists believe that the working class fail to socialize their children sufficiently as they are ‘culturally deprived’. This is when the children don’t have the right equipment for school so they can achieve the best grade and the reason to why they are under- achieving in item A it that critics believe that ‘material factors’ affect the gap in social class the most.
Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that students from different social classes are treated differently in schools. Anyon’s article is about a study she conducted to show how fifth graders from the working, middle, and upper class are taught differently. In Anyon’s article, she provides information to support the claim that children from different social classes are not given the same opportunities in education. It is clear that students with different socio-economic statuses are treated differently in academic settings. The curriculum in most schools is based on the social class that the students belong to. The work is laid out based on academic professionals’ assumptions of students’ knowledge. Teachers and educational professionals assume a student’s knowledge based on their socio-economic status.
The essay will commence by focusing on the1944 Education Act, as it was "the most important piece of educational legislation since 1902" (Gosden, 1983:3). There was a great need for this Act, because the Second World War caused considerable disruption to the educational system. As Dunford and Sharp point out, "evacuation, staff shortages and suspension of building programmes all created their own problems. War also brought important changes in social attitudes, and [...] there was a determination for a better future" (Dunford and Sharp, 1990:17). Therefore there was a need to remodel the current education system "in order to ensure that every child would go to a secondary school" (Gosden, 1983:1). Planning for reconstruction of education culminated in the Education Act of 1944, which is also known as the Butler Act.
Class is still everywhere. Throughout the history of Britain, class has always been an issue, and its topic remains to be an obsessional and contentious factor in people’s mind. As it can be seen, there are many factors revealing the existence of class, but at the same time, there are also many scholars suggesting that class is no longer valid. However, despite its ambiguity, it can be concluded that whether or not “classes” do exist, social division is still prevalent in British politics, public surveys, education, sport, and accent. In conclusion, to sum up the existence of class in modern Britain, class is still a relevant factor in society.
Hurd, G.E & Johnson, T.J (1963) Education and Development. Journal of The Sociological Review. Vol 15, No.1, pp59-7.
This essay will explore the relationship between education and society from a sociological perspective, the topics I have chosen to explore is Marxism, functionalism, education and class, feminism and the last topic is a very general topic which enhances our understanding of sociology and the world we live in. I chose the topics above as they offer an interesting viewpoint of education and sociology; also the topics above interlink this makes it easier to understand the contributions from a sociological perspective. Furthermore, to enhance my understanding of the topics I have found readings from other modules which offer a different perspective of education and society this will enable me to answer the question much more concisely as other viewpoints can challenge the topics I have stated above.
References Benson J; Brown M,(2007) Knowledge Workers: what keeps them committed, what turns them away, Work, Employment and Society 21, (1), pp.124. Bernstein B (1961) Language and class, Taylor P ; Richardson Jr J; Yeo, A, (1995), The class structure and educational attainment, Sociology in Focus, pp.298, Ormskirk, Causeway Press. Marsh I; Keating M; Punch S, (2009), Chapter 15, Education, Sociology. Making sense of society, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson Longman, pp.
The English writer George Orwell claimed that England is “the most class-ridden country under the sun”. In fact, it appears that not much has altered since the first half of the 20th century. “The classes have changed. But the barriers between them are made of the same clay: money, education, family and occupation.” (a class act) In English education a separation of systems is equal with a separation of classes. (a class act) The system which should provide students with equal opportunities disappoints and creates barriers and obstacles. It is becoming increasingly difficult to neglect the “social apartheid” created among people. This essay will deal with the following aspect of elitism in English educational system. The emphasis will be put on England, notwithstanding, with a regard to the United Kingdom. The first part of the analysis will examine the contrasting attitude towards higher education between privately and comprehensively educated pupils and their chances while applying to the universities. The second part will display students’ feelings and biases considering the most renowned universities. The final level of the analysis will depict the importance of academic roots in case of the United Kingdom’s most influential people.
In an education journal, Anyon (“Social”) provides the reader with the concept that there are four different types of schools, working class schools, middle-class schools, affluent professional schools, and executive elite schools, after observing five schools. The working class schools are made up of parents with blue-collar jobs, with less than a third of the fathers being skilled, and the majority of them being semiskilled or unskilled. “Approximately 15 percent of the fathers were unemployed… approximately 15 percent of the families in each school are at or below the federal ‘poverty’ level…the incomes of the majority of the families…are typical of 38.6 percent of the families in the United States” (Anyon, “Social”). In a more recent study conducted by Anyon (“What”, 69), she states that,
Socialization prepares us for our life experiences. It can be considered a reverential foundation for society. We may not agree to some rules in society, but without socialization a civil society would cease to exist. In addition, any influences on the socialization process have a profound effect on how we function as a community with some of the more notable discovery’s being email and instant messaging. Electronic or “virtual” socializing has proved to be exceedingly more popular than the preceding face to face social interaction like dating, church and ...
Social class, the grouping of people with the same or similar economic and social power (Sriprakash & Proctor, 2013, p. 81), provides a disadvantage in the education sector that requires explicit knowledge, understanding and action by teachers. Commonly, education systems have often reproduced social inequality, rather than attempt to overcome it (Sriprakash & Proctor, 2013, p. 96). Gobby and Millei (2017, p. 40) explain that if we were to look at education in a critical way, we would notice that school systems are focused on their obligation toward the privelaged and powerful, rather than, the less privelaged and socially disadvantaged, who are often oppressed by the system. This social disadvantage requires teachers to not judge, stereotype
Armitage, A. (1999) Teaching and Training in Post-Compulsory Education, 2nd Ed, King’s Lynn: OUP. P63
Bourdieu (1974) argues that the education system is biased towards those from middle and upper-class backgrounds. The culture of the ‘dominant classes’; the upper-classes, is imposed on young people in education, pupils from the upper-classes have an advantage as they have been socialised into the dominant culture and acquired skills and knowledge relevant to learning before entering the education system. These young people possess ‘cultural capital’; cultural capital includes mannerisms, a knowledge of creative and artistic parts of culture, the closer a young person presents themselves and their work to the style of the dominant classes the more likely they are to succeed as teachers are influenced by cultural capital. Also the grammar used by teachers disadvantages working class pupils as they cannot understand it. Bernstein (1961) argues teachers use elaborated speech codes; which is detailed and explanatory, working-class pupils are limited to using restricted codes; clear-cut and easy to understand speech, whereas middle an...
...all and L. Zafrin, (2008) The Purpose of Schooling: Beliefs and Practices of Educators in British Schools, TERC Documents, Paper 6, Available at: http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=terc_docs, (accessed: 20/04/14)