AS Sociology – Unit 2 Education with Research Methods
Social class and Education - In-school factors 1. Paul Willis – Counter/anti school subculture * Interviewed 12 disruptive boys in a school in the North of England, and then followed their progress in the workplace. * Boys wanted to go into manual work ‘proper jobs for real men’ and saw education as ‘sissy’ and irrelevant to their future * Found that being ‘one of the lads’ was an important part of their identity * This counter school culture was carried through into the workplace

Evaluation of Willi’s study
However it is questionable how far Willis’ findings would apply in modern Britain because there are far fewer unskilled and manual jobs available and less chance of finding employment without qualifications. His sample size is not representative therefore generalisations cannot be made.

2. Mac an Ghail - study of Parnell School (1994) * Suggests that peer groups reproduce a range of different class based masculine identities * Traditional working class masculine roles are under threat * Working class macho lads were dismissive of other working class boys who worked hard and aspired to middle class careers * The dominant definition of masculine identity changed as boys went on to sixth form * Shift from working class definition based on toughness to a middle class one based on intellectual ability

3. Howard Becker - Labelling and the Ideal pupil * Teachers prefer to teach pupils whom they perceive to be well behaved, well-motivated, well-mannered and compliant. * Such pupils tend to be Middle class. Working class children are at a disadvantage (e.g labelled as badly behaved) * This is not overt prejudice but because teachers tend to judge students by their own standards being generally middle class themselves.

4. Rosenthal and