identities and habitus

Archer

focus on the interaction between WC identity and how this produces underachievement

WC pupils don’t feel valued so they don’t engage with the working they believe that to be successful they have to change their values and everything about themselves

MC kids are being valued and work harder because they want more of that respect

Bourdieu - habitus

values, ideas and natural instincts that are just a part of you

MC has power to define their habitus as superior and impose it on education system

symbolic capital

the amount of worth people are perceived to have, how much respect they are shown

MC gains it because their habitus is more inline with school and more expensive tasted meaning they feel more valued and respected

symbolic violence

looking down on people for their perceived worth in terms of their symbolic capital

in schools, WC kids don’t get status and worth because of their habitus, they’re being told their values are wrong because they don’t match with the schools’

postmodernists

argue identity is far less fixed and there are far more options

Nike identity

when WC people feel les valued in schools and have a lower symbolic capital as they are less intelligent which leads them to seek boosts to their symbolic capital in different ways e.g. wearing Nike

becomes popular within subculture than not wearing it seen as social suicide so they wear it and break dress code which means they will be labelled as rebels

Ingram 2009

WC see value in conformity

a WC boy went to grammar school in a tracksuit and was ridiculed by MC kids

self-exclusions

WC kids think uni isn’t for them as they have been excluded from regular education so they don’t bother with higher

Evans 2009

21 WC girls doing A labels were reluctant to apply for Oxbridge as they felt there were hidden barriers and they wouldn’t fit in

also want to stay local due to collectivism

WC are forced to think they have to adopt MC habitus in order to succeed in education or fit in at top unis