Education Sociologists, Examples & Concepts

Speech/Language codes. Restricted vs Elaborate. (1975)

Bernstein

Four key features of working class sub-culture: fatalism, collectivism, immediate-gratification, present-time orientation. (1970)

Sugarman

Parents’ own educational level: parenting style, parents’ educational behaviours, use of income. 2008.

Feinstein

Cultural deprivation is a myth. (1973)

Keddie

Nutrition’s effect on education. (2001)

Howard

Hidden costs of education. (2003)

Tanner

Fear of debt. (2005)

Callendar & Jackson

Economic, educational & cultural capital

Bourdieu

Labelling theory

Becker

Self-fulfilling prophecy (1968)

Rosenthal & Jacobson

Rejecting labels (1984)

Fuller

Parentocracy (1993)

David

Commodification/marketisation of education

Ball

Cream-skimming and silt-shifting

Barlett

Privileged-skilled choosers, disconnected-local choosers, semi-skilled choosers (1995)

Gerwitz

Social solidarity & specialist skills

Durkheim

Meritocracy

Parsons

Role allocation (1945)

Davis & Moore

Education is an ideological tool

Marx

Education is part of the Ideological State Apparatus

Althusser

Hidden curriculum & correspondence principle

Bowles & Gintis

Learning Labour & anti-school subcultures.

Willis

Streaming

Douglas

A-C economy and educational triage (2011)

Gillbourn & Youdell

Subcultures, differentiation & polarisation

Lacey

Habitus, symbolic capital & symbolic violence

Bourdieu

Nike identities

Archer

Consumer choice & state education (1990)

Chubb & Moe

Language of Black American Children (1973)

Labov

Anti-Black Linguistic Racism

Baker-Bell

Lack of tough love and anti-school Black masculinity

Sewell

Asian work ethic

Sewell

Asian adult authority (2004)

Lupton

White working class anti-school attitude

Lupton

Racism in wider UK Society

Savage

Job discrimination (2010)

Wood et al

Housing discrimination

Rex

Black pupils & discipline (2000)

Gillborn & Youdell

Black boys’ exclusions (1994)

Bourne

Black boys internal exclusions (2001)

Osler

Black students and streaming (1990)

Foster

Teacher constructed identities: ideal pupil, pathologised pupil, demonised pupil (2008)

Archer

Rejecting labels (1984)

Fuller

Types of teacher racism: colour blind, liberal chauvinists, overt racists

Mirza

Black boys’ responses to racist stereotypes from teachers: the rebels, the conformists, the retreatists, the innovators

Sewell

A theory that sees racism as not just individuals’ actions but instead an ingrained feature of society.

Critical race theory

Marketisation of education giving schools the opportunity to select pupils allows for ethnic minority students to be discriminated against.

Gillborn

The National Curriculum ignores ethnic diversity and promotes an attitude of “little Englandism” eg: the history curriculum creating a mythical age of empire and past glory whilst ignoring Black and Asian history

Ball

The ethnocentric curriculum creates underachievement as ethnic minority children my feel inferior which damages their self esteem and can lead to failure

Coard

Assessments are rigged against ethnic minorities, eg: primary school baseline assessments being replaced with the Foundation Base Profile (FSP) in 2003 meant that Black children who were previously succeeded where now ranked below white children.

Gillborn

White students are 2x as likely as Black Caribbean students and 5x as likely as Black African students to be identified as Gifted & Talented

Gillborn

Black students are far more likely to be entered for lower tier exams than white students

Tikly et al

‘New IQism’ Schools use outdated IQ tests to measure what students have already learnt opposed to potential which means more Black students are placed in lower streams.

Gillborn

‘Model minorities’ like Indian and Chinese students outperform white students, but this could be seen as a distraction from institutional racism

Gillborn

To fully understand the relationship between ethnicity and achievement we must investigate how ethnicity interacts with gender and class.

Evans

Teachers construct masculinity differently depending on the student’s ethnicity. Black boys are seen as disrupted underachievers (punished more and channelled into sports) whilst Asian boys are seen as passive and academic (immature when misbehaving, more feminine and vulnerable)

Connolly

Deindustrialisation has created an identity crisis for (particularly working class) men as they believe they little chance of getting a job and therefore undermines their motivation to gain qualifications

Mitsos & Browne

‘Boiz’ lad subcultures. Decline of coal mine jobs in South Wales meant boys had to show their masculinity in other ways such as bullying ‘geeks’ and wearing tracksuits. 4/12 went to university.

Ward

Gender role socialisation: children are exposed to gender-specific activities at a young age, eg: girls playing with dolls and baking link to nurturing and caring roles leading to more expressive subjects like English Lit or Drama

Norman

There is a moral panic about policies promoting girls’ educational achievement has gone too far at the detriment of boys, but this takes the focus away from other disadvantaged groups like working class and ethnic minority students and ignores problems faced in school by girls like sexual harassment and low self esteem.

Ringrose

Boys are disciplined more harshly by teachers for ‘laddish behaviour’ and teachers have lower expectations of boys.

Francis

Education has been feminised, championing feminine traits like attentiveness and methodical working and failing not nurture masculine traits like competitiveness and leadership.

Sewell

Female teachers are just as likely to use ‘masculine’ disciplinarian discourse (explicit and visible authority) as male teachers despite liberal discourse (implicit, child-centred teacher authority) being seen as more feminine.

Read

Working class boys are more likely to be harassed or subject to homophobia is they appear to be ‘swots’ as schoolwork is seen as unmasculine, whilst sexual experiences. manual labour and sport are seen as masculine

Epstein

‘Lads and ladettes’. There has been a rise in female ‘laddish’ behaviour (smoking, swearing, disrupting lessons). Girls prefer to be seen as not trying hard academically rather than trying hard and getting low grades.

Jackson

Single-sex schools tend to hold less gender stereotyped subject images than in mixed schools meaning that girls are more likely to take STEM subjects and boys more likely to take English and Languages.

Leonard

Male pupils sexually objectify female pupils as part of the male gaze in order to prove their masculinity alongside retelling stories of their sexual experiences.

Mac an Ghaill

Working class girls gain symbolic capital from female peers by performing a hyper-sexual identity with a glamourous or sexy