Assess the View That Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement Are the Result of School Processes Such as Labeling.

One of the major causes of underachievement is the lack of economic capital, proposed by Pierre Bourdieu (1984), that a working class family possess. As item A states, ‘sociologists claim that factors outside the school, such as parental attitudes and parental income, are the main causes of working class underachievement.’ Children who belong to a working class background may not be able to afford the necessary equipment or meet the

Labelling – is a form of prejudice and discrimination. Can happen on basis of gender, ethnicity etc. People do label others to identify and differ groups of our community.

Allen’s Difference Matters book she explains the importance of labeling. “What a group is called and how it is described by other groups, particularly those in power, plays an important role in social relations, because these labels usually are not neutral”(Brenda J. Allen). People make labels that either have positive or a negative connotation. People establish positive labels on one another in order to reiterate their own social identities. For example, if a person meets someone who has the same qualities or ideologies as them, they might label that person as cool. People meet other people in order to find themselves. People unintentionally look for other people with the same ideologies. If that person finds somebody with those same ideologies that are just like theirs, then that’s where the positive connotation originates from. Negative labels come from people who interact with other people who have different ideologies than them. “Most often, dominant groups define these names/labels to establish and maintain hierarchy” (Allen 27). When people make those negative labels they do that in order to gain power over the people or group that are different from

Labeling theory holds that individuals come to identify and act as per their labels. The major tenet of this theory is that the behavior and self-identity of individuals is affected by the way they are described by other people (Vold, Bernard, Snipes, & Gerould, 2016). According to this theory, the act of deviance is not implicit in a particular act, but is hedged on the inclination of the majority to ascribe labels to minorities in society who deviate from standard behavior. Labeling leads to dramatization of a particular act – which propagates the behavioral clash between the individual and the community. Through ascribing labels, the individuals acquire a negative self-image. The individuals accept themselves as labeled by the

Some sociologists believe that the cause of crime and deviance is labelling which is when a label is attached to a person or group of people due to their appearance, sex, ethnicity etc. Labelling theory argues that once this label has been attached it can create a self fulfilling prophecy, which is when the person begins to act according to the label and hence it comes true simply through being made. Labelling is similar to stereotyping but this is when a person assigns certain characteristics to a labelled group. An example to support this would be 9/11. Since this disaster people label Muslims as being terrorists

Social Class and Education”. It opens by discussing research conducted in the 1960’s in an effort to identify factors contributing to differences in the academic achievement of Whites and Blacks (Banks & Banks, 2013). Researchers hypothesized that the achievement gaps were mainly the result of disparities in school resources and characteristics, but found that there is a high correlation between achievement and socioeconomic status (SES) (Banks & Banks, 2013). Furthermore, attention is drawn to the class stratification which exists in our educational system and works to maintain inequality through exclusion strategies such as ability grouping and tracking (Banks & Banks, 2013). Evidence of the correlation between social class and

Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess the view that social class differences in educational achievement are the result of school processes such as labelling.

Gove argued that there are two consequences of labelling: creation of sigma, modification of self images. Stigma is the negative branding of an individual and refers to the public condemnation and exclusion of the criminal. The media tend to exaggerate the behaviour of such people, causing increased fear and moral panic in society, resulting in avoidance and constantly being treated with suspicion. Becker refers to a ‘master status’ where once a person is labelled all of their actions are interpreted in light of the label and only negative aspects of that individual’s behaviour are focussed on.

One of the material conditions which is called “Social class” affects education. Because the people who are in lower social statuses are not able to afford a premier education, the necessary tools to complement a public education, or continuing education. In addition, people who are in a lower socioeconomic standing also have a harder time staying in school compared to the people who live in a higher social status.

In your own words, describe the two negative effects of labeling and the result of each of them.

Stereotyping and labelling is when a person or a group of people are seen or described in a particular way due to sharing a specific characteristic such as a person’s race or age. In a lot of circumstances stereotyping and labelling are not based on facts and are often linked to negative opinions.

Empirical studies that have shown support for the utility of labeling theory, include a study done

There are huge class differences within the tripartite system. This consists of grammar schools for academically able pupils, technical schools, and secondary modern schools. Two- thirds of grammar school places are taken by middle-class pupils, and working-class pupils mainly attend secondary moderns. This suggests that being in a higher class gives the pupils more opportunities being at a grammar school, and suggests that they have higher academic abilities. Grammar schools have more facilities and will offer far more opportunities for the pupils, and as the pupils are from a higher class they will be able to afford any extra curricular activities or trips. Secondary moderns may not offer these things or may not have the same facilities so there is a big inequality. This is where material deprivation comes into place and families in the working class will suffer. If families are unable to afford uniforms, trips, transport to and from school, classroom materials and textbooks, it can lead children to be isolated and bullied, meaning their school work suffers. Marketization of schools means that there will be better resourced, oversubscribed schools in more affluent areas, while socially disadvantaged children are concentrated in a limited number of

The labeling theory is based off of interactions between individuals and society. It suggests that the negative labels given to individuals by society can cause the individual to become that label.

Labelling theory refers to the ability to attach a label to a person or group of people and in so doing the label becomes more important than the individual. The label becomes the dominant form of identify and takes on ‘Master Status’ (Becker 1963; Lemert 1967) so that the person can no longer be seen other than through the lens of the label. Words, just like labels, are containers of meaning. In this case, the label and the meaning attached to it becomes all that the person is rather than a temporary feature of something that they have done or a way that they have behaved.