...Park Avenue Response When it comes to the topic of the working class, most people in today’s society would agree that the rich people have nothing to worry about financially. Where this statement would become controversial is whether or not the system is rigged by giving more opportunities to advance to the rich. The assumption is the U.S economy seems to be failing the majority of the working class who do not have the luxury of being rich. In the documentary “Park Avenue”, it is said that the rich have more opportunities to advance in today’s society. I agree to this statement, but I think that it is only true because the rich already have the money to do whatever it is that they would like to do. The rich can continuously invest in their money to make it possible to accumulate more money. However, for the working class, hard work is no longer enough to keep up with every day expenses. Many jobs available today are low-wage positions without benefits and no opportunities for advancement. Because of the low paying jobs, 40 hours a week is no longer the average amount of hours a person is working a week. Many people now have a part time job to supplement the income given from a full time job. Even with two jobs, many people still do not have the ability to have an adequate amount of money saved in a savings account. “Education is the key to upward mobility,” is stated by the author. Financial aid and grants are still easily obtainable but...
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...is so passionate in the delivery of his writing, he evokes emotion to the reader. The emotional appeal is accomplished in a few different ways. His argument is so relatable to people all over the world. If you’re not in the situation of the middle working class, you probably know someone who is. Brooks speaks about the diminishing amount of respect that we get if we don’t make enough money, and on top of that, the stress that comes with it. The working class has also been defined as not being well educated and less capable of doing things white collared workers can do. This isn’t necessarily true though; since the 1970’s, both economic and occupational insecurity have become...
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...‘’Assess the view that working class children under-achieve because they are culturally deprived’’ Cultural deprivation theorists argue that most of us are taught the attitudes and skills needed for educational success during primary socialisation. However, there are a percentage of students who do not have cultural capital, and are therefore deprived of what is needed to be successful at school – this percentage, according to cultural deprivation theorists, are working-class. There are three main aspects of cultural deprivation: intellectual development, language, and attitudes and values. Cultural deprivation theorists argue that intellectual development plays a big part in the educational failure of the lower classes. Due to cost constraints, working-class parents are unlikely to buy educational toys which would stimulate their child’s mind, and intellectual development. This stimulation of the mind is vital for when a child begins their educational journey, as many middle-class mothers would say. J.W.B Douglas found that working-class children tend to score less on tests of ability than middle-class students because working-class parents are less likely to support their child’s intellectual development – even by simply reading to them. Bernstein and Young also found that middle-class mothers are more likely to buy toys which encourage thinking and reasoning – skills which are needed for educational success. However, although intellectual development may seem like a major...
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...103 Paper #2 Weak Working Class Imagine a place where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Welcome to the United States of America! As ridiculous as it may sound it is the reality that we live in. For example, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the combined household incomes of the richest quintile in America has increased almost every year since 1976 while the combined household incomes of the poorest quintile has decreased almost every year in the same span of time (DeNavas 38-41). It makes no sense, yet no one seems to be able to stop it. People try, but little, if anything, seems to actually change. The upper class holds the majority of power in the U.S., but the working class needs more power in our society so that they can get the aid and benefits they need. If one did not know any better he or she may believe that the American working class does not even exist. In his book The Working Class Majority, college economics professor Michael Zweig talks about the media often making references to “Wall Street”, big banks, investment houses, and other big corporations, and “Main Street”, often looked at as the “middle class” (175). However, little is said of the lower, or working, class even though they represent over 30% of the American population according to the Census Bureau (Vo). Why wouldn’t a group of individuals that make up such a large portion of our population be mentioned often and consistently? Even when the working class is mentioned it seems...
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...conditions of Packingtown are not what they expected. In the ensuing chapters, the family’s luck changes from bad to worse when a multitude of family members die and jobs are repeatedly taken away from many of the group. Sinclair demonstrates through the optimistic and naive Rudkus-Lukoszaite family that American capitalism is destructive to the common worker and the immigrant class. In the proclaimed “wage slavery,” Sinclair describes how the immigrant population was "dependent for its opportunities of life, upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers” (Sinclair 126). In Chicago, the immigrant...
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...Historical events have major impact on the average working class people. The working class are the people who work for wages. During the time periods that took place in the book Out of the Furnace, countless number of immigrants came to America to either escape war, poverty or corruption from their home country. Events such as the Great Depression fell upon the people had a significant effect on the working class people in the country. Economic injustice plagued the whole country which caused many complications for Kracha and his family working at the steel mills. Everything from wars to social issues had an effect on the working class people. Out of the Furnace is a story that follows three generations of George Kracha’s family from Kracha’s migration to America to Dobie’s involvement in the movement for economic justice at the steel mills. George Kracha, a Slovak man, left his family back in his Hungarian village for America to escape the life of poverty and hoping to help them. When he arrived at New York, he needed a job as he only has fifty-five cents due to spending it all on a party during the voyage. He walked all the way to White Haven, where his...
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...of pupils who belong to a working class background, and they may be equally as effectual on the underachievement of the pupil. 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 demands of the school that could lead to achieving higher. As well as this, children may not be able to attend educational trips and events organised by the school, so they may miss out on valuable schooling time. This external factor links directly to underachievement in schools because those living in poverty may not be as well equipped to achieve highly in school because they simply can’t afford it. As a result of this, children who don't have the necessary equipment or who don't go on trips with the school, may be subjected to bullying and stigmatisation by peer groups. This may leave them feeling secluded and uncomfortable at school, leading to an anti-school mindset which, ultimately, leads to truancy and failure. Secondly, Basil Bernstein (1975) proposed there was a difference between middle class and working class people by the way they speak. The restricted code, used by working class people, is made up of simple...
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...Asses The View That Working Class Children Underachieve Because They Are Culturally Deprived There are many cultural deficiencies often associated with a child’s potential and achievement in education. Cultural deprivation is a theory that many working-class children are inadequately socialised from a young age, and therefore lack the “correct” culture appropriate for a successful education. Cultural deprivation theorists agree that humans acquire basic attitudes and values needed for education through primary socialisation in the family. However, many working class families do this inadequately, therefore their children become culturally deprived. There are three main aspects of cultural deprivation: intellectual development- which refers to the development of thinking and reasoning skills eg solving problems. Traditional Marxists believe that working class families lack educational books and toys that stimulate a child’s intellectual development, as they cannot afford them. Therefore children start school without the skills allowing them to progress. Douglas found that working class children scored lower than middle class children in intellectual tests. Bernstein and Douglas found that middle class mothers are more likely to buy educational toys to encourage their child’s learning from an early age; to assist the development of their thinking and reasoning skills, thus giving them a steady start and more likely to lead to educational success. Engelmen and Bereiter...
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...Cultural deprivation has many different aspects including lack of linguistic skills and lack of educational experience. Many suggest that due to working-class children are ‘culturally deprived’ compared to middle class children due to them having more access to things such as classical music, educational holidays or trips and literature. Bourdieu (1984) uses the term cultural capital to refer to the knowledge, attitudes , values , language , tastes and abilities of the middle class. He sees middle-class culture as a type of wealth due to it giving an advantage to the people who possess it. He suggests that through this middle class children acquire the abilities to grasp and analyse abstract ideas which leads to more intellectual interests and a better understanding of what they need to do to succeed. This gives middle-class children an advantage in school where such abilities are and interests are highly valued and rewarded. In contrast, working class children find that their culture is devalued to be ‘rough’ and inferior compared to that of the middle-class. The lack of cultural development in the child leads to exam failure, truanting, early leaving and just generally not trying. Alice Sullivan(2001) used questionnaires to conduct a survey of 465 pupils in 4 schools. To assess their cultural their cultural capital, she asked them about a range of activities, such as reading and TV viewing habits and whether or not they visit art galleries, museums or the theatre. She also...
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...The view that working class children cultural deprivation is the reason of their underachievement can be very rightly true. Cultural deprivation is the lack of certain rules of behavior in social situations, values, belief that something is a worthwhile, attitude and skills these are all of what society calls “normal”. Working class children are less likely to succeed in life because they are less likely to be found in nursery schools, less likely to go to university and more likely to be poor readers when they start school, more likely to be in lower sets and streams in secondary school, more likely to leave school early, more likely to underachieve at GCSEs and a level, more likely to be excluded and suspended. This is because the middle-class culture children are suitably prepared for school, but it's totally reverse for working-class culture; it basically fails to prepare children adequately for educational success/achievement. Cultural deprivation has been identified as one reason why the working class children are generally achieving less than middle class pupils. It attributes the working class under-achievement to the fact that they have often been brought up with a negative attitude towards education. The difference is working class people have a different culture from middle class people. That means working class children do less well in education. Some people then make a causative link between the two ideas and come up with the idea that working class children do less...
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...the view that the working class under- achievement in education is the result of home circumstances and family background To fully assess the view that the working class under- achievement in education is the result of home circumstances and family background we must look at what is within education such as socialisation. Socialisation helps develop language and communication by talking to others and learning and repeating words they use. A factor affecting education is material deprivation; this is when someone cannot access the right resources needed for education e.g. books and the internet. Howard did research on how diet and health of a child can affect their concentration in school. Income can affect the diet and health of a child, income very big within material deprivation because low income means that you cannot afford fresh vegetables and cook nutritious meals and so their children will be less able to concentrate in class. Other factors of low income include smaller houses and overcrowding which then makes it difficult for children to concentrate if there is a lot of noise or not so much space so they can do their homework. However policies such as EMA and aim higher where put in place, these are forms of compensatory education giving extra help to those who need it. A second factor affecting education is cultural deprivation, this is when people don’t have experiences of middle class norms and values, and so affects education as the middle class are seen as the...
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...the view that working class children underachieve because they are culturally deprived. Do working class children underachieve because they are culturally deprived? Cultural deprivation is the notion that the underachievement of working class children in exams is a result of their home background and parent’s failure to socialize them into the skills and values required for educational success. The three aspects of cultural deprivation are: Intellectual development, Language and Attitudes and Values. One of the aspects of cultural deprivation is Intellectual Development, which is the development of thinking and reasoning. Working class children may be less intellectually developed as their homes may lack books, educational toys and activities that stimulate their intellectual development. Douglas’ study found that working class pupils scored lower on tests of ability that middle class pupils, and due to this he argues that working class parents were less likely to read with their children thus stunting their intellectual growth and development. However, is has been argued by sociologists that cultural deprivation is not the only factor contributing to the underachievement of working class children, and that material deprivation and internal school factors may be just as important, if not more so, than cultural deprivation. The second aspect of cultural deprivation is Language, which is the differences that exist in the language used by the middle class and the language...
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...“TV’s Callous Neglect of Working-Class America” Essay In the article, “TV’s Callous Neglect of Working-Class America” by Noel Murray, the author describes each generation of TV shows and the differences between them. As time goes on TV shows are becoming more unrealistic. Modern sitcoms occasionally mention the 21st century and the struggles, then back away. Even though some shows don’t present the most realistic and down to earth lifestyle, they still express truth in a different way. Despite, the truth in the shows, some still argue that the topic of lower class struggles are avoided. TV shows in the 1950’s through the 1990’s showed actual everyday life struggles. In the article, the author states, “Then in the ‘80s and ‘90s we had Roseanne,...
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...deprivation is the theory that many working-class and black children are inadequately socialised and therefore lack the 'right' culture needed for educational success e.g. their families do not instil the value of deferred gratification. Cultural deprivation is an outside school/home background factor that could affect the achievement of working class pupils as if their family do not place a high standard on education, the pupil may imitate this causing their grades to lower. The attitudes and values that working class pupils usually hold vary from that of middle class, one being fatalism. Barry Sugarman suggested that the idea of believing in fate and that ''whatever will be, will be" could lead to underachievement as working class pupils with this view think that nothing they can do will stop what is already planned for them. Middle-class values usually emphasises that you can change your position through your own efforts. Sugarman also believed in the idea of present-time orientation. This is where someone sees the present as more important than the future and therefore does not set long-term goals or plans. This view is also usually held by working class people in contrast to middle-class culture that has a future-time orientation that sees planning for the future as important as the present. Douglas suggested that immediate gratification is also a large contributing factor to the under achievement of working class pupils. It's basis is that working class people seek pleasure now rather...
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...There are many ways in which cultural deprivation may lead to educational under-achievement in working-class pupils. The term ‘Culture’ refers to all the norms, values, beliefs, skills and knowledge that a society or group regards as important. This culture is transmitted to the next generation through socialisation. According to cultural deprivation theories, some working class parents fail to transmit the appropriate norms, values, attitudes, knowledge and skills – that is the ‘right’ culture needed for educational success. Cultural deprivation theorists see three factors as responsible for working-class under-achievement. One factor being the lack of intellectual stimulation. Working class families are less likely to give their children educational toys and activities that will stimulate their thinking and reasoning skills, and less likely to read them. This effects their intellectual development so that when they begin school they are at a disadvantage compared with middle-class children. Another factor responsible for working-class under-achievement is the restricted speech code. Bernstein (1975) distinguishes between elaborated and restricted speech codes. He says that the working class use the restricted code. The restricted speech code is less analytic and more descriptive, has a limited vocabulary and is formed of simple sentences or even just gestures. The middle class however, use the elaborated code. This is more analytic, with a wide range of vocabulary and complex...
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