Assignment 1: Social Justice Issue

Students who do not speak the dominant language, or is not proficient in the

dominant language face many difficulties within the field of education, more

specifically within schools and classrooms. This results in alienation within

classrooms. Culturally and linguistically diverse students (refugee students)

are not accommodated within Australian schools. Using Bourdieu’s theory of

social practice, with a closer examination on the concepts, capital, habitus

and field. This essay examines how student’s capital and habitus alongside

the habitus of teachers may create alienation within the field of education. It

will also examine the underlying power relation that construct language and

the possible solutions that are available.

Alienation suggests there is a distance amongst two or more entities resulting

in a strong sense of sorrow, causing students to view both school and life as

fragmentary (Brown, Higgins and Paulsen, 2003). Adolescent alienation is an

issue for some young people especially young people in schools. Many

students from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds are disengaging from

school often becoming alienated (Brown et al., 2003). The essential aspects

of alienation include “powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and

social isolation” (Brown et al., 2003, p4). Adolescents spend a significant time

in school; therefore it is the responsibility of the school to manage such

issues. By incorporating prevention and intervention strategies, the school can

assist the students who are at risk of alienation (Brown et al., 2003). Students

from traditionally marginalised social classes (Refuges, migrants and

indigenous people) can face alienation in schools due to their language

abilities. The students are sometimes unable to exercise agency in their

Assignment 1: Social Justice Issue

choice to be taught in a certain way (Case, 2008). Schools encourage

minority students to be absorbed into the dominant culture. However, the

unfamiliarity with the dominant culture may further heighten feelings of

alienation. Case (2008) argues that Marx’s original theory of alienation aligns

with pedagogical practices within educational institutions. Marx identifies four

aspects of alienation: alienation from the product of labour (assessments and

set classroom tasks), the second aspect is alienation from the activity of

production (an individuals process of learning), the third aspect is alienation

from ones self and the final aspect is alienation from other human beings

(classmates and teachers) (Case, 2008).

Bourdieu’s theory of social practice incorporates three key concepts: Capital,

habitus and field. Capital is then broken down into cultural, social and

economic forms (Ferfolja, Diaz & Ullman, 2015). Different forms of capital

influence habitus in turn influencing social fields such as classrooms/schools.

Cultural capital is accumulated through family, language and knowledge; it is

also the ‘primary cause for status and relative positions within a social field’

(Walther, 2014, p10). Language is a form of cultural capital and is associated

with an individual’s habitus. Linguistic capital does not always hold power in

social fields such as the classroom. The standard form of language is

favoured. Those who are speakers of the dominant language have access to

opportunity and educational inclusion as a result of the capital that has been

inherited. Linguistically diverse individuals face the issue of not being

legitimised in classrooms. Capital needs value in order to operate, culturally

and linguistically diverse individuals do not possess the capital that gains