Gender flashcards- sociologists- gender class and achievement

Evans 2009

• W/C sixth formers want to go to Uni to increase their earning power in order to help their families

• W/C girls self-limit their Uni choice and market value of degree as economic necessity is a reason for remaining and home

Skeggs 1997

• W/C girls more likely to stay at home or live nearby for Uni due to importance of family

Archer 2010

• Preference for remaining local feature of W/C habits

Archer et al 2010

• Conflict between W/C feminine identities and values and ethos of school

• Symbolic capital from peers prevents acquisition of economic and educational capital

  • Hyper-heterosexual feminine identity

  • ‘Being loud’

  • Conflict with school

  • Boyfriends

• Dilemma:

  • Gain symbolic capital OR gain education capital and reject W/C identity

• Tend to define selves as ‘good underneath,’ reflecting their struggle to achieve a sense of self-worth

• W/C investments in their femininty is a major cause of underachievement

Archer et al 2010- hyper-heterosexual feminine identity

Hyper-heterosexual feminine identity

• Considerable time and effort spent on being desirable and glamorous

  • All £40/week earned spent on appearance

    • Gain status from female peers

    • ‘Tramp’ for wearing wrong brand

Archer et al 2010- conflict with school

• Punished by school for having the ‘wrong’ appearance

  • Teachers see preoccupation with appearance as distraction and preventing students from engaging in education

  • Symbolic violence: school others girls as ‘not one of us’ and incapable of academic success, and therefore not worthy of respect

• Don’t have ‘ideal female pupil identity’

  • Desexualised, M/C

Archer et al 2010- boyfriends

• Form of symbolic capital for girls

• Decreased aspirations as got in way of schoolwork and carried risk of pregnancy

  • Less likely to want to go to uni or want to study ‘masculine’ subjects

  • Want to settle down, have children and work locally, if at all

Archer et al 2010- ‘being loud’

• Adoption of loud feminine identities causes conflict with teachers

  • Behaviour seen as aggressive not assertive

  • Lack of conformation to ‘ideal pupil identity’ (passive, submissive) due to questioning teacher authority