...ENCOUNTERING SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES AT WORK: HOW “CLASS WORK” PERPETUATES INEQUALITY Using a microsociological lens, we develop a theoretical framework that explains how social class distinctions are sustained within organizations. In particular, we intro- duce the concept of “class work” and explicate the cognitions and practices that members of different classes engage in when they come in contact with each other in cross-class encounters. We also elucidate how class work perpetuates inequality, as well as the consequences of class work on organizations and those at the lower end of the organizational hierarchy. By examining microlevel interactions and how they become institutionalized within organizations as prevailing rules and practices, we contribute to both institutional theory and the sociology of social class differences. We encourage future research on social class and discuss some of the challenges inher- ent in conducting it. Several contemporary developments—includ- ing the financial crisis of 2008 (Rajan, 2010), the shrinking of the middle class (Leicht & Fitzger- ald, 2007), and the rise of the “new poor” in America (Cohen, 2010)— have reinjected the is- sue of social class differences and inequality (Stiglitz, 2012) into contemporary discourse. Within organization studies, however, social class has received only scant consideration (cf. Castilla & Benard, 2010; Dacin, Munir, & Tracey, 2010; Scully & Blake-Beard, 2006). While two re- cent exceptions...
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...When sociologists talk of social class, they refer to a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production. Within that system occupation is very important because it provides financial rewards, stability and benefits like healthcare. A status hierarchy in which individuals and groups are classified on the basis of esteem and prestige acquired mainly via economic success and accumulation of wealth. Social class may withal refer to any particular level in such a hierarchy. Four prevalent social classes informally recognized in many societies are: (1) Upper class, (2) Middle class, (3) Working class, and the (4) Lower class. The effects of social class can be felt anywhere. Virtually every aspect of society is influenced in some manner by social class. The magazines one reads, the television shows one watches, and the apparel a person buys affect social class. School, work, religious, and home lives are withal linked to the influence of social classes. Schools and the workplace are greatly influenced by social class. The look of employment is transmuting because workers can no longer expect to work their way up through a company. Many companies look outside of the company for people with the right educational background instead of hiring from within. The reporting of social class contributes to the lack of reliability as well. Since social class is often self-reported, it is difficult to assure the precision of the information collected...
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...Assess the view that social class differences in educational achievement are the result of internal processes such as labelling. Many sociologists would agree school processes such as labelling have an effect on a child’s educational achievement. However there are many other school processes that cause underachievement. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them. For example, teachers may label a student as smart, thick, hardworking or troublemaker. Studies have shown that teachers often attach such labels regardless of the pupil’s actual ability or attitude. Instead they label pupils on the basis of stereotyped assumptions about their class background. Becker carried out an important study of labelling. He carried out interviews with 60 Chicago high school teachers. His findings were that they judged pupils according to how closely they fitted an image of the ‘ideal pupil’. Pupils work, conduct and appearance were key factors influencing teacher’s judgments. Middle class children were seen as the closest to ideal by teachers however lower working class children were seen as furthest away from it because they regarded them as badly behaved. Cicourel and Kitsuse’s study of educational councilors in an American high school shows how such labelling can disadvantage working class students. Cicourel and Kitsuse found inconsistencies in the way the councilors assessed students’ suitability for courses. Although they claimed to judge students according...
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...Assess the view that social class differences in educational achievement are the results of school processes such as labelling (20) James Palman School processes such as labelling and streaming are examples of factors which can effect students achievement. This can be linked to the difference in social classes of students which will have an adverse effect on their achievement, partly due to different school processes which can put certain students at a disadvantage. Labelling is attaching a meaning or definition to a specific person or group. Teachers can label students negatively due to their social class. If the student is labelled in a negative manor such as being a trouble maker or thick the student can react to this label. Consequently a self-fulfilling prophesy can occur, this is when a student takes the label they are given and continue to show this characteristic. For example is a student is labelled as a trouble maker then the student can start to believe that they actually are a trouble maker and therefore continue to act in this manner. Howard Becker carried out an interactionist study of labelling. He found that from the 60 teachers he asked most of them judged pupils on how closely they fitted an image of the ‘ideal pupil’. The students work, conduct and appearance all effected this judgement, the teachers saw students from middle class backgrounds as the closest to the ‘ideal pupils’. Cicourel and Kitsuse studies educational counsellors in America and found that...
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...Sociology explanations have suggested many different reasons for the class base differences in education achievement. Studies have shown that there is a 45% gap between classes in A* - C GCSE outcomes. It is suggested that the diversity in educational success between different classes are due to inside factors. These are factors within schools and the education system that could cause these differences. One internal factor is labelling. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them, which is done in schools between the different classes – especially by teachers as they usually label working class as negative because of their look, speech code (restricted) and attitude to learning. Becker’s study in 1971 is a prime example of labelling as he studied 60 high school teachers reporting that teachers’ ‘ideal’ pupil most closely fitted the characteristics of the middle class students. Labelling done by teachers can influence a student’s level of confidence and self-esteem, therefore making them feel like they may as well not try and not achieve well in school. However, Fuller’s researcher found that some students fight back against their negative labels and achieve more than expected. The self-fulfilling prophecy is another internal factor that can be linked to social class differences in achievement. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it being made and some sociologists argue that labelling can affect pupil’s achievement...
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...negatively impact their educational achievement. Labelling is also another factor that can cause social class differences in the education system. To label someone is to attach a name to someone. Interactionist Howard Becker would argue that teachers would often label students on stereotyped assumptions based on their class. Therefore working class pupils would often be labelled negatively while middle class children were labelled positively. Becker would argue that when children are labelled, a self fulfilling prophecy will occur which is an explanation of why working class students can sometimes not achieve much as they live up to their negative labels. Pupil subcultures could also be another factor which impacts on social class differences in education achievement. Lacey would argue that pro-school sub cultures would usually be common for middle class students as they enjoyed and tended to be committed to school. However the anti-school subculture was usually found with working pupils who rejected schools and turned to other things. Paul Willis would argue in favour of this as he would say working class lads were in the anti-school subculture as they knew that the education would fail them, so they showed signs of fatalism and accepted that they would never be successful, especially from the education system. Barry sugarman would further argue that these working class lads would then want immediate gratification, so they looked for jobs as a means to get by and make...
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...In this essay, the view that social class differences in educational underachievement are the result of school processes such as labelling will be assessed. Internal and external factors will be assessed with the use of researchers such as: Bernstein, Bereiter & Engelmann, Keddie and Howard. Internal factors such as labelling have been shown to effect education achievement. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them. Becker carried out a study on labelling on 60 Chicago high school teachers, and found that they judged pupils according to how closely they fit an image of the ideal pupil. The pupils work, conduct, and appearance were key factors to the teachers’ judgements. Becker found that middle class children were closer to the image of the ideal pupil whereas the working class children were furthest away and seen as badly behaved. Cicourel & Kituse’s study of educational counsellors in an American high school shows how this labelling can disadvantage working class student. They found that the way in which counsellors would assess the student’s suitability for courses. They judged students on the basis of their class and/or race. Where students would have the same grades, they work more likely to label middle class pupils as having college potential and to place them on higher level courses. Rist did a study on an American kindergarten and found that the teachers used information about the children’s home, background and appearance to place them...
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...attitude. Instead they label pupils on the basis of stereotyped assumptions about their class background. Howard Becker (1971) carried out an important interactionist study of labelling. He carried out interviews with 60 Chicago high school teachers. His findings were that they judged pupils according to how closely they fitted an image of the ‘ideal pupil’. Pupils work, conduct and appearance were key factors influencing teacher’s judgements. Middle class children were seen as the closest to ideal by teachers however lower working class children were seen as furthest away from it because they regarded them as badly behaved. Aaron Cicourel and john Kitsuse’s (1963) study of educational councillors in an American high school shows how such labelling can disadvantage working class students. Cicourel and Kitsuse found inconsistences in the way the councillors assessed students’ suitability for courses. Although they claimed to judge students according to their ability, in practice they judged students largely on the basis of their social class and/or race. Another type of social process that leads to educational underachievement is streaming. Streaming involves separating children into different ability groups or classes called streams. Each ability group is then taught separately from the others, for all subjects. As Becker shows, teachers do not usually see working class...
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...In school factors can have a big impact on the social class differences in education achievement. However, it isn’t the only factor. In school factors include labelling; this is done by both students and teachers. Pupils will be labelled based on social class; a working class child is more likely to be labelled as ‘stupid’, and other degrading names. This labelling can lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy; this disadvantages them because the teacher is favouring other students. However, teachers are more likely to label a middle class child as smart, intelligent etc. Which makes them feel good and they achieve. This puts them at a starting advantage over their working class peers. Marxists would say this is creating inequality, and reproducing the ruling class ideology as they are above working class from an early age. Class size is also an in school factor; a small class means more one to one time with a teacher. Only middle class can afford public schools, and therefore have smaller class sizes and therefore are more likely to achieve more due to more time with the teacher. A middle class child is more likely to be placed in a higher set, as Bowles and Gintis says. This means they are more likely to be taught to a higher grade, which means they will perform better in the exam as they will be prepared for the exam. Some people may also argue that public schools have better teacher standards, only middle class can afford the public schools, which means they get this higher teaching...
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...In this essay, the view that social class differences in educational underachievement are the result of school processes such as labelling will be assessed. Internal and external factors will be assessed with the use of researchers such as: Bernstein, Bereiter & Engelmann, Keddie and Howard. Internal factors such as labelling have been shown to effect education achievement. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to them. Becker carried out a study on labelling on 60 Chicago high school teachers, and found that they judged pupils according to how closely they fit an image of the ideal pupil. The pupils work, conduct, and appearance were key factors to the teachers’ judgements. Becker found that middle class children were closer to the image of the ideal pupil whereas the working class children were furthest away and seen as badly behaved. Cicourel & Kituse’s study of educational counsellors in an American high school shows how this labelling can disadvantage working class student. They found that the way in which counsellors would assess the student’s suitability for courses. They judged students on the basis of their class and/or race. Where students would have the same grades, they work more likely to label middle class pupils as having college potential and to place them on higher level courses. Rist did a study on an American kindergarten and found that the teachers used information about the children’s home, background and appearance to place them in separate...
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...Over the board, middle class students generally do better than working class students in educational achievement. Some sociologists argue that this is due to three key factors. Labelling, subcultures and marketisation. This focuses on things that occur internally. One of these key factors is labelling. To label someone is to attach a meaning or definition to someone. An example of this would be that teachers often apply labels to students on the basis of their behaviour or appearance. Becker found some evidence behind this after he did some research on high school teachers. He found they would label students according to how closely they fitted the image of the, “ideal pupil.” Pupils work conduct and appearance were the key factors in influencing their judgement. Cicourel and Kitsuse also found some evidence when studying counsellors. They found inconsistencies in the way in which students suitability for courses were assessed. The councellors said they judged students according to their ability. In practise however they judged them on the basis of social class or race. Middle class students were more likely to be placed on higher level courses and seen as suitable college material. Following on from this labelling theory, Rist did some research and found that teachers used a range of methods to place students in separate groups and this had implications in terms of access to knowledge and achievement. Each pupil was streamed into a different group. Streaming is when a...
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...Causing Social Class Differences in Education Achievement. working-class students have usually underachieved in school, in contrast to middle-class students, this is due to external and internal factors. External cultural factors are claimed to be a key cause of social class differences in educational achievement according to various sociologist. These factors consist of Cultural deprivation, cultural capital and material deprivation. working class students' backgrounds are often linked with poverty more than any other class, this explains to material deprivation which these pupils are going through, as the students cannot afford money to buy all the equipment that they need for education, tanner et al found that the cost of items such as transport, uniform, books, coputer, calculater and sports equipment places a very heavy burden on poorer families . To support this claim sociologist Flaherty also states that having money problems in the family were a significant factor in younger children’s low attendance at school, which links to under achievements at school. The idea that children from working class backgrounds is also supported by sociologist Howard. Her claim is that children from poorer homes tend to have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. This will ten result in absences from school which is proven to have a big impact on education achievement. In addition to this Wilkinson has studied a series of ten year olds, the lower the social background...
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...In school factors can have a big impact on the social class differences in education achievement. However, it isn’t the only factor. In school factors include labelling; this is done by both students and teachers. Pupils will be labelled based on social class; a working class child is more likely to be labelled as ‘stupid’, and other degrading names. This labelling can lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy; this disadvantages them because the teacher is favouring other students. However, teachers are more likely to label a middle class child as smart, intelligent etc. Which makes them feel good and they achieve. This puts them at a starting advantage over their working class peers. Marxists would say this is creating inequality, and reproducing the ruling class ideology as they are above working class from an early age. Class size is also an in school factor; a small class means more one to one time with a teacher. Only middle class can afford public schools, and therefore have smaller class sizes and therefore are more likely to achieve more due to more time with the teacher. A middle class child is more likely to be placed in a higher set, as Bowles and Gintis says. This means they are more likely to be taught to a higher grade, which means they will perform better in the exam as they will be prepared for the exam. Some people may also argue that public schools have better teacher standards, only middle class can afford the public schools, which means they get this higher teaching...
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...that are in a working-class have the tendency to underachieve in school, in contrast to those students that are middle-class, this is due to external and internal factors. External cultural factors are claimed to be a key cause of social class differences in educational achievement according to various sociologist. These factors consist of Cultural deprivation, cultural capital and material deprivation. Students from working class backgrounds often experience economic problems (poverty) more so than any other class; this is linked to material deprivation which these pupils are exposed to throughout their time. Being in poverty could entail the students not having enough money to buy all the essential equipment that they will need for educational attainment, supported by sociologist - Bull. This is closely linked to educational under achievement for example in 2006 33% of children on pupil premium (free school meals) achieved 5 A* to C grades in comparison to 61% not on pupil premium. However, statistics cannot prove that material deprivation is the cause of under achievement as the government doesn’t always collect statistics that is supporting the claim 100%, therefore the claim cannot generalise. To support this claim sociologist Flaherty also states that having money problems in the family were a significant factor in younger children’s low attendance at school, which links to under achievements at school. The idea that children from working class backgrounds is also...
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...view that differences in educational achievement between social classes are the result of factors and processes within the school. Within school there are educational differences within achievement between social classes. Generally the middle class on the whole tend to do better and outperform the working class. Some of the reasons why are put forward by interactionists sociologists who believe that the difference is “a result of factors and processes within the school” which are internal factors which cause this difference in achievement between social classes. Interactionists look at processes in the school on a small scale interaction to try and figure out why there is a difference. However there are other views such as external factors which suggest it is factors outside the school which lead to differences in educational achievement between social classes. One internal factor which can be seen as partly responsible for differences in educational achievement between social classes is labelling. Labelling refers to the process of defining a person or group in a certain way. Labelling by teachers can contribute to differences in educational achievement. For example a study by Howard Becker discovered how teachers judged pupils according to how closely they fitted the image of the “ideal pupil” and based their judgement on many key factors such as work, conduct and appearance. The teachers saw the middle class as the closest to the ideal pupil and the working class as the furthest...
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