A-Level Sociology (AQA)

Topic Summaries

Education

Differential educational achievement: social class

  • External factors – cultural:
    • 👤 Feinstein (2003): middle-class parents’ language encourages reasoning.
    • 👤 Bernstein (1971): middle-class use elaborated code, working-class use restricted code; schools value elaborated code.
    • 👤 Douglas (1964): working-class parents value education less, reducing support.
    • 👥 Bernstein and Young (1967): middle-class parents more likely to buy educational resources for children.
    • 👤 Bourdieu (1971): middle-class parents possess greater cultural and social capital which 👤 Sullivan (1998) found boosts achievement.
    • 👤 Sugarman (1970): working-class subcultures are characterised by fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, and present-time orientation.
    • 👤 Keddie (1973): working-class pupils are culturally different, not deprived.
  • External factors – material:
    • 👤 Howard (2001): poor diet impacts concentration and health.
    • 👤 Wilkinson (1996): working-class children face more behavioural and emotional problems.
    • 👤 Bull (1980): hidden costs of education disadvantage working-class pupils.
    • 👤 Bourdieu (1986): economic capital translates to educational capital, and catchment areas lead to selection by mortgage.
  • Internal factors – labelling:
    • 👤 Becker (1963): teachers judge pupils against ideal type.
    • 👤 Rist (1970): teachers group by perceived ability linked to background.
    • 👥 Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968): positive expectations improve performance.
    • 👥 Gillborn and Youdell (2000): marketisation creates educational triage, disadvantaging working-class pupils.
  • Internal factors – subcultures:
    • 👤 Lacey (1970): differentiation leads to polarisation of pro- and anti-school groups.
    • 👤 Hargreaves (1967): working-class pupils denied status create anti-school subcultures.
    • 👥 Archer et al. (2007): working-class pupils create Nike identities for symbolic capital.
    • 👤 Willis (1977): working-class boys resist school but end up in working-class jobs.

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