Deanna Kremzier April 9, 2012 Education 220 Social Class

From the moment we are born our socioeconomic level and social class has already been predetermined for us. Over time our thoughts and ideas about socioeconomic levels and class have changed. But one thing has remained the same over the years; it is very hard to better our own social class from the one that we were born into. Social classes have a very strong relationship with educational achievement. Teachers perceptions on their own students have an impact on how the student will be treated. These impacts could be positive or negative.

Through the research of Anyon, Rist, Demarrias, LeCompte, Bourdieu, Marx and the film 7-Up it is shown that many teachers give special treatment to a child depending on their social class. The treatment to each child in their own specific social class from their teachers strongly affects the outcome of a childs social class in their future. In Jean Anyons research he discovered how schools specifically prepare children for their proper place in their own social structure and the workforce. In Anyons study

classrooms were broken up into five groups ranging from low social classes to elitists. He found that in lower social classes the students received much more attention from their teachers. Teachers in the higher social class classes were more focused on preparing their students for exams. In the lower social class classrooms this was hardly done. In Anyons research he also talks a lot about Max Weber. Max Webers interests were curriculum and the types of students that got into different schools. Weber believed that the educational system was created for whatever society it was set up in. There were several similarities in curriculum among the

schools in Anyons study. The objective of the study was to find out if an educational system could create noble people through merit, not just through social class and to see if the curriculum should be standardized or graded. The assessment focused on reproductive and non-reproductive aspects of knowledge in each social class setting. In his conclusion, he found that it was very difficult for one to succeed through meritocracy but it could be done. In Ray C Rists did an analysis of individual classrooms, activities, and interactions between a group of students and their teachers. Starting in kindergarten the students were divided up at three different tables in their classroom based on their social class. All the upper class students were set up at one table, middle class at the next and lower class students at the last. The teacher always taught to the upper class table and stood closest to them so they got the most attention. The upper class students learned the most and the lower class learned the least because they got the least amount of attention. As they progressed to the next grade all the students pretty much remained at the same tables as they were at in previous grade. Some of the middle class students moved up to the upper class table through the next grades but not many. By the second grade the teachers had even named the tables. The upper class table was named the tigers and the lower class table was named the clowns. Even by the names that the teachers gave the students tables impacted them. The name clowns is even almost degrading to the lower class students. These students at the lower class table never moved up to higher tables and received the least amount of attention from their teacher. Seeing as some of the middle class students were able to move up into the upper class table it is evident that it can be done but yet again, it is a very difficult task. DeMarrais and LeComptes research discussed the topic of how different social classes are stereotyped seems to be a common idea. They talk about how the ideas of resistance and

empowerment are used to keep people in their current social status throughout their life. The concept of formulation is a great way to explain this. Formulation is when the dominant group controls the oppressed through hegemonic ideologies. Hegemony is a kind of domination

without using force. A prime example of this is American egalitarianism. We are all told that men are created equal. Because we are all told this, people internalize this message and convince themselves that failure is their own fault rather than the result of the rigged American system. This can either be a driving or hindering force in the process of bettering ones social class. Pierre Bourdieu believed that the concept of cultural capital, habitus and trajectory could help to fully understand social classes. The first thing that Bourdieu needed to understand was the difference between class and culture. Class is a group of people who share a similar social position and certain economic, political characteristics while culture is the behaviors and beliefs of a particular social, ethnic, or age group. Cultural capital is a resource with exchange value that depends on ways of talking, acting, moving, dressing, socializing, tastes, likes, dislikes, competencies, and forms of knowledge that distinguish one group from another. The social value of the cultural capital depends on the prestige of the social class who owns it. Bourdieu believed that people were not born with cultural capital; they had to acquire it with primary socialization, which develops habitus. Habitus is where you receive cultural capital from. Habitus is a set of ideas about how the world works, what should be valued, what ones place is in society, and what behavior is proper. Habitus is ever changing and within habitus there are many alternative actions, which are called trajectories. Trajectory is the subsequent choices that individuals make that affect whether or not they remain in the habitus of their primary socialization context. Habitus is vital, because it determines social belief. Being a teacher in

school, social beliefs can conflict with the teaching habits and their relationships with their students. Karl Marxs ideas had a structuralist/functionalist explanation for social classes. Marx believed that the key to understanding human social reality lies in discovering the underlying structure that explains it. He believed that economic forces were the determining factor in our society and that was what our social classes were based off of. Although it would be difficult he thought that there could only be an upward progression of social classes. The idea of capitalism brought about two opposing classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The people that have the means of production are the ones that have to power to affect the social classes in society. This is also done through social hegemony. Schools act to diffuse class antagonism, because they introduce students to accept the belief that the position they attain is the best they can achieve. Through this idea children are more willing able to accept their social class and very few will go to great lengths to improve it. The 7-up series was a longitudinal study of different children in different social classes showing that even as young children, they knew were aware of their own social classes as well as the students around them. They viewed each other differently based on their social class. The higher classes thought very little of the lower classes and the lower didnt think much of the higher classes either. From ages seven to forty-nine we saw that there were hardly any

differences in social class of the children as they aged. They all adapted pretty well to the lifestyles and social classes that they grew up in. The three boys and three girls along with Susie, that were from a more upper class family all knew what their plans for the future would be. They all knew what they wanted to do and where they were going to school. As the series progressed we saw that their predictions for the future were all pretty much spot on and almost

all of them remained in the social class they grew up in. The two orphans, Symon and Paul, who came from orphanage ended up in a working class status, but they were making a comfortable amount of money to live off of. The only two children that changed social classes were Nick and Neil. Nick worked very hard in school and it paid off. He continued onto college and became a scientist. He came from a rural middle class background but ended up moving up the social class ladder. On the other hand, Neil moved down the social class ladder. He started off in a fairly well off social class and as time passed on he ended up homeless. It is not very often that we see this. The 7-Up series is a prime example of how in general children will remain in the social class they were born into throughout their life although once in a while there are a few changes. This longitudinal study also shows the pattern of this concept because most of the children remain in the social class of their parents and based on the families they start one can predict that their children will remain in the same social class that they were in. Although social class can be considered a predetermined thing it does not define who you are. It is still possible to better ones own social class through hard work and dedication. Though it is a difficult battle it can be done. Teachers perceptions of students today in some cases are based on the childs social class which may hinder or excel the childs educational achievement. Anyon, Rist, Demarrias, LeCompte, Bourdieu, Marxs research as well as the film Seven Up are prime examples of the consistency in social classes but also show that it is possible to be better than the social class that we were born into.