Sociology of Education: Cultural and Material Deprivation

Definition: Students lacking "cultural equipment" (language, self-discipline, and reasoning skills) necessary for academic success. By age $3$ , working-class children may be $1$ year behind middle-class peers.
Language (Bernstein, 1975): Identified two speech codes: * Restricted Code: Typically working-class; limited vocabulary, simple sentences, and context-bound. * Elaborated Code: Typically middle-class; wider vocabulary, complex sentences, and context-free. This code is used by teachers, textbooks, and exams.
Parents' Education: * Douglas (1964): Working-class parents placed less value on education, visited schools less, and were less ambitious for children. * Feinstein (2008): Educated parents use consistent discipline, foster high expectations, and spend income on educational toys.
Working-Class Subcultures (Sugarman): Identified four barrier beliefs: * Fatalism: Belief that status cannot be changed. * Collectivism: Valuing the group over individual success. * Immediate Gratification: Seeking pleasure now rather than sacrificing for future rewards. * Present-time Orientation: Seeing the present as more important than the future.

Definition: Programs providing extra resources to deprived areas to tackle cultural deprivation.
Examples: * Operation Head Start (US, 1960s): Included nursery classes, parenting classes, and home visits. * Sesame Street: TV show designed to transmit educational values and skills. * UK Programs: Educational Priority Areas, Education Action Zones, and Sure Start (introduced by New Labour in $2010$ ; faced funding cuts since $2011$ ).

Keddie: Describes cultural deprivation as a "myth" and victim-blaming. Argues children are "culturally different," not deprived, and schools should adapt to their needs.
Blackstone and Mortimore: Working-class parents attend fewer school events because of long work hours or discomfort with middle-class atmospheres, not a lack of interest.

Definition: Poverty and lack of physical necessities like housing and income. Only $1/3$ of pupils eligible for free school meals achieve $5$ or more GCSEs $A*-C$ .
Factors: * Housing: Overcrowding limits study space; cold or damp conditions lead to illness and school absence. * Diet and Health (Howard): Lower intake of vitamins and minerals weakens immune systems and leads to behavioral problems like hyperactivity. * Financial Costs (Tanner): Burden of transport, books, and equipment. Flaherty notes that fear of stigma prevents $20\%$ of eligible children from taking free school meals. * Fear of Debt (Callendar & Jackson): Working-class students are more "debt averse." In $2012$ , when tuition fees rose to \text{}9,000, university applications dropped by $8.6\%$ .

Concept: Bourdieu (a Marxist) argues that educational achievement is influenced by interrelated Economic, Educational, and Cultural capital.
Cultural Capital: Refers to the knowledge, attitudes, and language of the middle class.
Habitus: The taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting shared by a social class; schools value the middle-class habitus.
Selection by Mortgage: Wealthier parents use economic capital to buy houses in the catchment areas of better schools.
Sullivan's Research: A survey of $465$ pupils found that while reading complex fiction and watching documentaries increased cultural capital, it only partially explained the achievement gap. Middle-class students still performed better due to higher resources and aspirations.