SOCIOLOGY HOMEWORK-JOYCE WILLIAMS-MORENO

QUESTION 2
a) Material deprivation is the inability to afford basic resources and this could impact
a pupil’s educational achievement. This will mean pupils are unable to afford things
like sufficient food, heating or clothing and educational resources, which is
subsequently very likely to affect educational performance and lead to
underachievement. The consecutive paragraphs will discuss how educational
achievement could be affected by material deprivation.
The Marxist approach favours material deprivation as an explanation for
differential achievement as it involves a combination of factors that disadvantage
working-class pupils. Gibson and Asthana (1999) pointed out that there is a
correlation between low household income and poor educational performance; poor
diet, the lack of private study facilities and resources, and the need to work to
supplement family income. Basically, it can prevent a child gaining a good education
because parents are less able to meet the Hidden costs of education such as finding
money for school trips and home resources such as computer and it also means a
family is more likely to live in a deprived area with worse schools. Lack of money
impacts negatively on family dynamics, especially parental involvement in education,
and have the effect of lowering educational aspirations.
However, some students from material deprived backgrounds do well and so it is
much too difficult to just be blunt and find a link between material deprivation and
educational achievement- especially if functionalists think of the education system as
meritocratic. As a result, there is nothing more than a causal relationship between
these two variables and it would be more accurate to say that it disadvantages
working class students and makes it more difficult for them to succeed. Again, there
are other differences between classes that may lead to working class
underachievement. For example, those from working class backgrounds are not just
materially deprived, they are also culturally deprived. The cultural capital and class
reproduction of the middle classes also advantages them in education and ensure
that middle-class spots are reserved for middle-class pupils.

b) Many theoretical perspectives have their different views on differential educational

achievement by gender. Neo-functionalists believe that boys underachieve as a
result of the lack of male role models in schools, many other perspectives disagree.
The following paragraphs will assess the view that interaction between teachers and
pupils is the main factor explaining differences in educational achievement between
males and females.
Neo-functionalist like Francis and Skelton argue that male underachievement is
as a result of social and economic changes that have tipped the educational balance
unfairly in girl’s favour. Francis and Skelton observe that male underachievement
can be explained by natural differences between boys and girls. Male
underachievement is also argued to be stemming from the feminisation of school,
especially the lack of male role models for male students. This also leads to the
punishment of natural exuberant male behaviour being punished as female teachers
cannot relate, and this makes male students develop anti-school cultures
(Diefenbach and Klein 2002).
However, many sociologists argue that feminists have had a strong impact on the
education system. Those who run the education system are now much more aware
of gender issues and stereotyping. Curriculum have removed gender inequality by
making girls and boys study the same subjects and this has changed girls’
achievement levels. Many of the barriers have been removed and education has
become meritocratic so girls who generally work harder are now achieving more. In
recent years there has been an increase in proportion of female teachers and head
teachers. These women require extensive education to get to that position which
encourages young females to find role models who are qualified and well educated.
Feminists do agree that the way teachers interact with boys and girls also affects
gender differences in achievement but, Spender found that teachers spend more
time interacting with boys. However, French found that boys tend to receive more
negative attention for poor behaviour and girls receive more positive attention which
is work related and helps them achieve
Again, due to society's views on gender, male children are often given a lot more
freedom than female children. For example, boys are encouraged to take up
traditionally masculine activities like sports (Carolyn Jackson (2006) – Found that it
made students seem cool and thus popular), while girls are encouraged towards
playing with dolls and other indoor activities. Some sociologists believe this leads to
a 'bedroom culture' among young girls (Abrahams (1988) and Mirza (1992) have
found evidence of pro-school female subcultures who actively encourage each other
to study). This means that girls are much more likely to stay inside and do
educational activities like reading from a young age, and boys are less likely to do as
many educational activities. Girls often end up with much larger vocabularies and
academically inclined minds much earlier in school that boys do for this reason, and
subsequently tend to achieve higher in the education system.
Also, the Marxist perspective argue that there is a closer correlation between
educational achievement and class rather than educational achievement and gender,
they also question male educational achievement in terms of changing male
identities. With regards to class, Murphy and Elwood noted how historical
improvements are ‘are not shared by girls from low social economic background ‘-
cultural reproduction is induced as the middle class constantly reproduce the
privileges in their kids by investing in their education, Neo-marxists also argue about
changing male identities and how it contributes to male underachievement. Jones
and Myfill observed how toxic masculinity was not conclusive to educational
achievement, and rather caused problems in class and downplayed educational
qualifications. Identity has a lot to do with education as Platten (1999) observed-
boys are increasingly victims of negative gender stereotyping, translating into lower
teacher expectation and educational achievement.
 In a nutshell, many theoretical perspectives have conflicting views when it comes
to gender and educational achievement. However, the idea that teacher-pupil
interaction is the main factor of differential educational achievement by gender is
not accurate as there are different and more pressing, underlying factors for this.