DOI•
Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs
01 Dec 2011-Iss: 32, pp 5-8
About: The article was published on 2011-12-01 and is currently open access. It has received 1252 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Working class.
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01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The authors used Free Association Narrative Interviewing with six working class participants to explore the emotional, affective and biographical relationships with 'favourite' film and television texts and also texts that have had an emotional 'impact' on the viewer.
Abstract: This is an interview-based piece of psycho-social phenomenological audience research, based on eleven interviews and a series of letters with six working class participants using a psychoanalytically informed method: Free Association Narrative Interviewing. The research aimed to create an in-depth study of the emotional, affective and biographical relationships with 'favourite' film and television texts and also texts that have had an emotional 'impact' on the viewer. The research brings together and develops psychoanalytic film theory and sociological and cultural studies approaches to media audience research to explore this phenomenon.
Film theory has traditionally utilised textual analysis as a method and the audience has been figured in response to the text. Media and Cultural Studies research into audiences has utilised 'textual' approaches and analysed reading and interpretation of texts. Another strand of empirical audience research exists which relegates the text in favour of an approach concerned with understanding the practices and politics of viewing. Film theory has traditionally found psychoanalysis a useful analytic tool, whilst empirical audience research, interested in both reception and uses, has preferred sociological and cultural interpretive paradigms. These differences of approach and focus have often prevented dialogue between various disciplines -film, media and cultural studies - with regard to audiences.
This research attempts to bridge some of these divisions by focussing on both the reception of texts and also viewing practices. I argue for a method retaining textual analysis as part of a multi-layered method, which includes interviews, and sociohistorical analysis. The research utilises and evaluates psychoanalytic concepts and ideas and begins from the historically contextualised position that audiences now view in a post-cinematic era. I use this term not to signify the end of cinema, but to point to the developments in home viewing, which mean films are not always viewed in the cinema. Also such developments suggest that film theories that are based heavily on the cinematic viewing situation may need to be re-evaluated. Theoretically, the research does not reject what have been hegemonic poststructural models but seeks to enhance established approaches by also utilising perspectives from a range of psychoanalytic perspectives including object relations.
The sample of interviewees contains participants from across the age spectrum to explore the experience of technological and social change from different vantage points. The impact of developments such as time shift technology, video and DVD on the relationships with texts and the viewing practices of audiences are examined. Following this, a central research question concerns the ways in which personalising viewing technologies have their own subjective impact upon memory, identity and family relationships. Therefore the home, where most of this technology is located and used is explored as a unique viewing space.
The research data provides rich accounts of viewing experiences and the uses of texts and viewing practices in everyday life. New light is shed on established and important concepts in media and film such as identification. The research found examples of forms of identification that have not been explored in previous media and film research for instance intergenerational, sibling, biographical, idiomatic and 'emotional' identification with texts. Other findings included the use of texts to address personal trauma and anxiety resulting from the lived experience of social mobility in what Ulrich Beck has called 'new modernity'. These findings add to the understanding of the experience of viewing and the way media texts are made meaningful and used by audiences.
Alternative conceptual models are offered to enhance established approaches. Bion's work is used to understand how film and television visual 'moments' or moments from plot development are used in 'thought'. The work of Bollas and his concepts of idiom, and six forms of object 'use' help to explain the relationship between taste, trauma and the lived experience of social class. Repetition compulsion and afterwardsness explain the significance of memory and experience in viewing practices and favourite texts.
The research evaluates some established post-positivist critiques of method and knowledge production and argues that psycho-social methods are effective and workable. The combination of case study and Free Association Narrative Interview Method used demonstrates that it is a viable and effective approach to interviewing for media and film research. It is shown to be particularly effective for generating narratives with biographical and emotional significance. The method is also shown to be an appropriate method for psychoanalytically informed audience research when combined with other methods such as textual analysis.
9 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Bourdieu notes that habitus has an intergenerational feature and it is learn and passed on from generation to generation in families (see also Reiss 1988; Willis 1982)....
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...The physical strength and endurance associated with skilled manual labour were said to offer working class men secure forms of masculinity (Beynon 2002; Willis,1982) Chris's father's physical presence, his tiredness after a days work, are recalled with affection as will be described later....
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the experiences of year 8 students in Taiwan and found that family social status and gender are associated with different students' perceptions of school experiences, which in turn influences pupils' school experience.
Abstract: Educational attainment has been a central debate in the field of educational research for a long time. Moreover, regarding inequality in educational attainment, social
research has been dominated by questioning the association between educational attainment and gender, ethnic and social class inequalities. When considering social class inequality, one universal conclusion can be drawn: the higher family social status,the better academic attainment. This is also true in Taiwan, as is the case elsewhere.
However, I want to ask: does social status influence other educational outcomes in addition to academic attainment, and if so, how? With respect to this question, I argue that beside educational attainment, students’ school experiences can be considered as an important educational outcome; furthermore, it may be influenced by social status and gender.
The aim of this research is to investigate the experiences of year 8 students in Taiwan:
what are their perceptions of school experiences?, and more specifically, what extent family social status and gender are associated with different students’ perception of
parents’ educative capital and their own educational habitus, which in turn influences pupils’ school experience. Indeed, this study intends to expand the relationship
between social status/gender and education; moreover, to examine a dynamic structure between family social status/gender influence and personal perception.
After the process of data analysis, many meaningful findings are examined. Family socioeconomic status did not make direct impact on students’ relationship with peers
and teachers; and parents’ educative capital did not affect educational attainment directly either. In addition, surprisingly, gender difference made no difference on all
measured aspects. By holding such information, it will be possible examine the phenomenon of youth development and secondary education in Taiwan.
9 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...For example, working-class expressions of masculinity may include the rejection of school rules and a strong commitment to the peer group (Willis, 1977 and Frosh et al., 2002)....
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...Students from families with a low socio-economic status may have a stronger relationship with their peers, since Willis (1977) argues that social class loyalty and positive feelings of group identity and bonds exist among working-class students....
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Dissertation•
01 Sep 2018
TL;DR: The authors argue that critical pedagogy leaves key structures of neo-liberalism unquestioned, and argue that no matter the practices of governance we are subject too, be they conservative or liberal, there always exist moments and means of subversion.
Abstract: This thesis is a critique of critical pedagogy which questions several of the key political assumptions behind critical pedagogy's calls for social change. Over the past decades critical pedagogy has become established as the progressive response to dominant approaches to education, first addressing issues of economic oppression and then expanding its analysis to include race, gender, sexuality and more. The wide range of authors contributing to critical pedagogy reflect this growing field of analysis and despite the variation in background and focus, all authors are united by a central tenet: education is political, and education can help to change the world for the better through greater justice, equality, democracy, and freedom. In recent years critical pedagogy has turned its attention to neo-liberal approaches to education which emphasise individual competition, personal gain, and free market economics, positioning itself as the progressive and critical response to neo-liberal education. The aim of this thesis is to question the assumptions behind this call for greater justice, equality, democracy, and freedom, and to argue that rather than offering a progressive response to neo-liberal practices of education, critical pedagogy leaves key structures of neo-liberalism unquestioned.
Building on anarchist theory and practice, and specifically on areas concerning the subject, governance and subversion developed following poststructuralist insights, I argue that rather than critical pedagogy offering a response to neo-liberalism, the unquestioned assumptions of critical pedagogy reveal a vision of social change and individual transformation which is constraining. Developing my critique through an anarchist reading of critical pedagogy's reliance on the state, and Foucauldian reading of the attempt to govern the individual subject, I propose and explore a subversive approach to educational theory and practice which operates in the gaps and tensions created by the education systems. My exploration occurs in the context of a UK higher education institution in which I was teaching as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for three years, and I examine the tensions and difficulties of working in a neo-liberal Higher Education (HE) institution while simultaneously pursuing an approach to education entirely alien to it. To this end I utilise autoethnography to capture, re-tell, and analyse specific experiences from my teaching practice, using a combination of Gray's work on exilic space and de Certeau's work on la perruque ('wiggery') as a lens to establish the possibility of subversion in constrained and constraining systems like neo-liberal HE.
I contend that the anarchist thought and practice developed in this thesis offers a possibility for subversion which avoids the pitfalls of critical pedagogy by creating and developing moments in which we take responsibility for our actions, our (trans)formation as a subject, and our relationships to others in ways which are unaccountable for by neo-liberalism and critical pedagogy alike. I conclude the thesis piece by arguing that no matter the practices of governance we are subject too, be they neo-liberal in nature or emanating from critical pedagogy, there always exist moments and means of subversion.
9 citations
TL;DR: The ideal-typical distinction of normal/choice biography has been adopted by many youth researchers over the last 17 years as a means of approaching how vocational adolescents take decisions in a c...
Abstract: The ideal–typical distinction of normal/choice biography has been adopted by many youth researchers over the last 17 years as a means of approaching how vocational adolescents take decisions in a c...
9 citations
Dissertation•
23 Mar 2017
9 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Ethnographers have typically entered schools as teachers (Hargreaves, 1967; Burgess, 1983; Pollard, 1985) or ancillary staff (Willis, 1977) to engage in participant observation....
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...By the 1970s and 80s the field had diversified, with ethnographic methods used to study classroom interactions (Delamont, 1983; Woods, 1983); the ‘micropolitical’ struggle for power, status and control between teachers and senior management (Burgess, 1983; Ball, 1987); and the experiences, aspirations and social trajectories of specific groups of students distinguished by culture, class, gender or ethnicity (Willis, 1977; Mac an Ghaill, 1988)....
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...These studies demonstrate the importance of looking beyond structural explanations for social inequalities, to consider the perspectives and agency of different groups in school – particularly students, whose uses of the school may be at odds with the purposes expressed by teachers and policy-makers (Willis, 1977)....
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References
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01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition as discussed by the authors, but it has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory.
Abstract: The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition. It has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory (Lave, 1988; Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984; Foucault, 1980; Vygotsky, 1978). But the concept of community of practice is well aligned with the perspective of systems traditions. A community of practice itself can be viewed as a simple social system. And a complex social system can be viewed as constituted by interrelated communities of practice. In this essay I first explore the systemic nature of the concept at these two levels. Then I use this foundation to look at the applications of the concept, some of its main critiques, and its potential for developing a social discipline of learning.
1,082 citations
Book•
27 Jun 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the Flatlands of Oakland and the Youth Control Complex are discussed. But the focus is on the role of black youth in the criminal justice system and community institutions.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments Part I Hypercriminalization 1 Dreams Deferred: The Patterns of Punishment in Oakland 2 The Flatlands of Oakland and the Youth Control Complex 3 The Labeling Hype: Coming of Age in the Era of Mass Incarceration 4 The Coupling of Criminal Justice and Community Institutions Part II Consequences 5 "Dummy Smart": Misrecognition, Acting Out, and "Going Dumb" 6 Proving Manhood: Masculinity as a Rehabilitative Tool 7 Guilty by Association: Acting White or Acting Lawful? Conclusion: Toward a Youth Support Complex Appendix: Beyond Jungle-Book Tropes Notes References Index About the Author
909 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the transition to adulthood among 1.5-generation undocumented Latino young adults and finds that for them, the transition from K to adulthood involves exiting the legally protected status of K to...
Abstract: This article examines the transition to adulthood among 1.5-generation undocumented Latino young adults. For them, the transition to adulthood involves exiting the legally protected status of K to ...
663 citations
TL;DR: In this article, student engagement research, policy, and practice must become more nuanced and less formulaic, and the ensuing review is structured accordingly, guided in part by social-ecological analysis and social-cultural theory.
Abstract: Student engagement research, policy, and practice are even more important in today’s race-to-the top policy environment. With a priority goal of postsecondary completion with advanced competence, today’s students must be engaged longer and more deeply. This need is especially salient for students attending schools located in segregated, high-poverty neighborhoods and isolated rural communities. Here, engagement research, policy, and practice must become more nuanced and less formulaic, and the ensuing review is structured accordingly. Guided in part by social-ecological analysis and social-cultural theory, engagement is conceptualized as a dynamic system of social and psychological constructs as well as a synergistic process. This conceptualization invites researchers, policymakers, and school-community leaders to develop improvement models that provide a more expansive, engagement-focused reach into students’ family, peer, and neighborhood ecologies.
528 citations
TL;DR: The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA) as discussed by the authors used a mixed-methods approach, combining longitudinal, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to document adaptation patterns of 407 recently arrived immigrant youth from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico over the course of five years.
Abstract: Background/Context: Newcomer immigrant students are entering schools in the United States in unprecedented numbers. As they enter new school contexts, they face a number of challenges in their adjustment. Previous literature suggested that relationships in school play a particularly crucial role in promoting socially competent behavior in the classroom and in fostering academic engagement and school performance. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the role of school-based relationships in engagement and achievement in a population of newcomer immigrant students. Research Design: The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA) used a mixed-methods approach, combining longitudinal, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to document adaptation patterns of 407 recently arrived immigrant youth from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico over the course of five years. Based on data from the last year of the study, we examine how the role of relationships mediates newcomers’ challenges with academic engagement and performance. We identify factors that account for patterns of academic engagement and achievement, including country of origin, gender, maternal education, English language proficiency, and school-based relationships. Findings: Multiple regression analyses suggest that supportive school-based relationships strongly contribute to both the academic engagement and the school performance of the par
356 citations