3.3.3

Social Class & External Factors

Test yourself

Social Class and External Factors

Social class may have effects on the educational achievement of pupils.

Illustrative background for Cultural capitalIllustrative background for Cultural capital ?? "content

Cultural capital

  • Cultural capital describes the skills, norms, values and knowledge that middle-class parents have and pass on to their children.
    • Cultural capital consists of values that typically indicate a higher social status.
  • This means that middle-class pupils start their education at an advantage in comparison to their working-class counterparts.
Illustrative background for Cultural deprivationIllustrative background for Cultural deprivation ?? "content

Cultural deprivation

  • Cultural deprivation is the lack of cultural capital.
  • Some believe that cultural deprivation is usually experienced by working-class parents.
  • These parents can struggle to provide their children with the communication skills or aspirations that middle-class parents do.
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Cultural deprivation cont.

  • This could be because they might not value education.
    • E.g. university does not teach anything useful.
  • They might believe in immediate gratification (experiencing fulfilment without delay).
    • E.g. university is perceived as a delay to them earning money earlier.
Illustrative background for Material deprivationIllustrative background for Material deprivation ?? "content

Material deprivation

  • Material deprivation is the lack of necessary things that are needed for schools due to a lack of money.
    • E.g. stationery, uniform, school trips.
    • There are cases where parents can’t even afford to properly nourish their children.
  • These are likely to lead to underachievement.

Social Class and External Factors

Social class may have effects on the educational achievement of pupils.

Illustrative background for Working class subculturesIllustrative background for Working class subcultures ?? "content

Working class subcultures

  • Working class subcultures might believe education isn’t necessary due to the fact that they might not be educated themselves.
  • This can lead to reduced parental support with homework and a poor work ethic towards gaining qualifications as they don’t think they are of any value to their children.
Illustrative background for Parental attitudesIllustrative background for Parental attitudes ?? "content

Parental attitudes

  • Middle-class parents tend to know the right people in the right places, and they can usually afford almost anything that can lead to a good education.
Illustrative background for Language developmentIllustrative background for Language development ?? "content

Language development

  • Language development is another significant factor that might affect the chances that working-class pupils have as their parents can lack the necessary speech codes that are recognised as important in education.
Illustrative background for BernsteinIllustrative background for Bernstein ?? "content

Bernstein

  • According to Bernstein, middle-class parents use 'elaborated code' (complex sentences, rich vocabulary, correct grammar).
  • Working-class parents tend to use 'restricted code' (simple sentences, poor vocabulary, grammar mistakes).

Jump to other topics

1The Sociological Approach

1.1Introduction to Sociology

1.1.1What is Sociology?

1.1.2Culture & Socialisation

1.2Sociological Approaches

1.2.1Marxism

1.2.2Marxism 2

1.2.3Functionalism

1.2.4Feminism

1.3The Consensus vs. Conflict Debate

1.3.1The Consensus vs. Conflict Debate

1.3.2End of Topic Test - The Sociological Approach

2Families

2.1Functions of Families

2.1.1Functionalist Views on Family

2.1.2Marxist Views on Family

2.1.3Feminist Views on Family

2.2Family Forms

2.2.1What is a Family?

2.2.2Nuclear Family

2.2.3Families in a Global Context

2.2.4The Rapoports & Family Diversity

2.2.5Causes of Family Diversity

2.2.6End of Topic Test - Family Forms

2.3Conjugal Role Relationships

2.3.1Conjugal Roles

2.4Changing Relationships Within Families

2.4.1Timeline

2.4.2Domestic Abuse

2.4.3Symmetrical Family

2.5Criticisms of Families

2.5.1Functionalist Views of Families

2.5.2Marxist Views of Families

2.5.3Feminist Views of Families

2.5.4Declining Marriage Rate

2.5.5End of Topic Test - Criticisms of Families

2.6Divorce

2.6.1Reasons For Rise in Divorce Rate

2.6.2Consequences of Divorce

2.6.3Functionalist Views

2.6.4Marxist Views

2.6.5Feminist Views

2.6.6End of Topic Test - Divorce

3Education

3.1Roles & Functions of Education

3.1.1The Functionalist Approach

3.1.2Evaluating Different Perspectives

3.1.3Types of School

3.1.4Alternative Education

3.1.5State & Private Schools

3.2Processes Within Schools

3.2.1Internal Processes

3.2.2External Processes

3.3Educational Achievement

3.3.1Measuring Educational Success

3.3.2Social Class & Education

3.3.3Social Class & External Factors

3.3.4Gender & Education

3.3.5Ethnicity & Education

3.3.6Parental Choice

3.3.7History of UK Education Policy

3.3.8Recent UK Education Policy

3.3.9End of Topic Test - Education

4Crime & Deviance

4.1The Social Construction of Crime

4.1.1Defining Crime & Deviance

4.1.2Sociological Explanations of Crime

4.1.3Interactionist Explanations of Crime

4.1.4Alternative Explanations of Crime

4.2Social Control

4.2.1Informal Social Control

4.2.2Formal Social Control

4.2.3End of Topic Test - Social Construction of Crime

4.3Criminal & Deviant Behaviour

4.3.1Explanations of Crime

4.3.2Social Class & Crime

4.3.3Gender & Crime

4.3.4Ethnicity & Crime

4.3.5Age & Crime

4.3.6Criminal Responsibility

4.3.7The Prison System

4.3.8Media Reporting of Crime

4.3.9Functionalist Explanations of Crime

4.4Data on Crime

4.4.1Measuring Crime

4.4.2End of Topic Test - Criminal & Deviant Behaviour

5Social Stratification

5.1Social Stratification

5.1.1What is Social Stratification?

5.1.2Functionalism

5.1.3Socio-Economic Class

5.1.4Socio-Economic Class 2

5.1.5Life Chances

5.1.6The Affluent Worker

5.1.7End of Topic Test - Social Stratifictaion

5.2Poverty as a Social Issue

5.2.1Defining Poverty

5.2.2Factors Affecting Poverty

5.2.3Explanations of Poverty

5.2.4Impact of Globalisation

5.2.5End of Topic Test - Poverty as a Social Issue

5.3Power & Authority

5.3.1Weber

5.3.2Sociological Perspectives

5.3.3Power Relationships

5.3.4End of Topic Test - Power & Authority

6Sociological Research Methods

6.1Research Methods

6.1.1Research Design

6.1.2The Scientific Method

6.1.3Other Considerations

6.1.4Primary Sources

6.1.5Secondary Sources

6.1.6Surveys

6.1.7Sampling

6.1.8Questionnaires

6.1.9Interviews

6.1.10Observation

6.1.11Statistics

6.1.12Case Studies

6.1.13Longitudinal Studies

6.1.14Ethnography

6.1.15Experiments

6.1.16Small Scale Research

6.1.17End of Topic Test - Research Methods

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Social Class & Education

Gender & Education