Social Class & External Factors
Sociology: AQA GCSE, topic 3.3.3
Social Class and External Factors
Social class may have effects on the educational achievement of pupils.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Test yourself on Social Class & External Factors
What term describes the skills, norms, values and knowledge that middle-class parents have and pass on to their children?