Theories Of Cultural Deprivation

Cultural deprivation is a major theory in understanding underachievement. This is the theory working class culture is different from the other classes and this puts working class children at a disadvantage in many areas. For example, working class culture does not adequately prepare their children for academic success and so it holds back educational achievement. This can be shown by a number of pieces of research, an example is by Douglas (1964) who did a longitudinal study, a study of a long period of time, of a large group of children born in 1948 and followed them into their careers. He examined their entry into school and their schooling. From this Douglas highlighted that the level of parental interest was the most important factor …show more content…
Boudon states there are primary (the possible class subcultural effects in attitudes and values developing from unequal social class stratification or category system) and secondary effects (originate from classes’ different positions of individual pupils within the social class stratification system). He states that working class families have lower ambitions for their children and settle for lower level education and work, but the middle class and above have higher ambition for their children and want them to achieve a higher education and career . He also claims that if a working class individual had higher ambitions, for example, to become a doctor, for themselves and took the necessary measures to get there, they would consequently weakening their attachment with their family and peer group. A middle class child with the same ambitions, on the other hand, would strengthen it as they are following a similar path to their family and would not be alienating themselves, so no risks are taken. From this, you could determine that an individual’s class position could affect their future education and career (The History Learning Site, 2016). Boudon’s said that solution to this inequality is that schools must completely be undifferentiated such as common curriculum for all pupils. He also argues that the more branching points (the defined stages in a student’s educational life when decisions are made about their future path in education) the more likely working class children are to leave education or choose lower-level courses. This is supported by Boudon when he compared the USA with European countries. There are less branching points in the American educational system than the other countries within Europe; statistics suggest that the USA have more equal educational opportunities.