Sociology - Cultural Factors in Educational Attainment

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Outline and asses cultural explanation of

Social class difference in educational achievement.

Class differences in educational attainment have often been seen as a result of differences in class cultures. For example, a number of studies have argued that the values, attitudes and aspirations of parents have an important effect on their young people’s education. If these values and attitudes vary between social classes then this may account, at least in part, for class differences in educational attainment.

Many sociologists support for what has become known as the Cultural deprivation theory. Cultural deprivation theory assumes that the culture of low income groups are inferior  and this accounts for the low educational attainment of members of these groups and low groups have ‘substandard’ attitudes and values toward education.  Hyman (1967), a functional sociologist, argues that the values of the working classes prevent them from performing well in education and being upwardly socially mobile. He indentified a number of differences between the cultures of the middle classes and the working classes. Firstly, he indentifies that the working class place a lower value on education, secondly, he indentifies that the working class place a lower value on achieving high occupational status and lastly he indentifies that the working classes believe there is little opportunity for personal advancement. However, he also stated that this could not be generalized to all members of the working classes as there are a small minority who do not share these values.  On the whole, Hyman argued that the working classes lacked the motivation to achieve. This suggests that Hyman believes that the cultural deprivation is caused by the limited value  on education in the working class background.

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On the other hand, Marxist sociologists Wefhorst and Hofstede (2007) argue that cultural capital is a significant factor in explaining ability levels. They argue that students educational choices are based on the risk associated with downward social mobility. They explain that although more working class pupils are now entering higher education, more middle classes attend university because they do not want to risk downward social mobility. At class attainment, participating in higher education, the Youth Cohort Study (2005) found that in 2005 59% of 19 year olds from higher professional backgrounds and 19% of those from routine backgrounds were in ...

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