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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TL;DR: The authors argue that the concept of the pedagogical state can be used to better understand the cultural practices of governing through pedagogy means, and the evolving relationship between state and citizen, and argue that it is inadequate to identify educational reforms and resultant citizen subjectivities as straightforwardly neoliberal without paying attention to the deeper and wider characteristics of pedagogogical power.
Abstract: This paper argues that the concept of the ‘pedagogical state’ (Hunter 1994, Kaplan 2007) can be employed to better understand the cultural practices of governing through pedagogical means, and the evolving pedagogical relationship between state and citizen. The introduction of statutory Citizenship Education lessons in secondary schools in England in 2002 is used as a case study through which to develop the idea of the pedagogical state. It is argued that Citizenship Education makes manifest practices of citizen-formation, opens up a space in which teachers and pupils actively negotiate the tensions between freedom and government, and evokes a response which is often characterised by public scepticism. In this sense, it is inadequate to identify educational reforms and resultant citizen subjectivities as straightforwardly neoliberal without paying attention to the deeper and wider characteristics of pedagogical power.
46 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...These considerations have long been the concern of educational sociologists and critical educational theorists (Willis 1977, Ball 1987, McLaren 1989)....
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TL;DR: In this article, a three-year ethnographic analysis of school engagement issues in the north of Australia is presented, where the authors find that Indigenous people are content with the schools' engagement efforts and with their interactions with schools, accepting that how their lives are lived are not within the provenance of the school system to amend.
Abstract: ‘Engagement’ is the second of six top priorities in Australia's most recent Indigenous education strategy to ‘close the gap’ in schooling outcomes. Drawing on findings from a three‐year ethnographic analysis of school engagement issues in the north of Australia, this article situates engagement within the history of Indigenous education policy, followed by considerations of how many of the issues faced by Indigenous families both match and can be distinguished from those experienced among poor and underemployed social groups throughout the western world. We find that Indigenous people are content with the schools' engagement efforts and with their interactions with schools, accepting that how their lives are lived are not within the provenance of the school system to amend. In its homogenisation of Indigenous issues, reification of cultural distinction and foregrounding of disengagement as an issue, Australian education policy is also about non‐engagement, in that it excludes key issues from policy consid...
46 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures is explored in the context of urban schools, and it is argued that race, class, and gender privilege are maintained in the production of these identities.
Abstract: This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures. I demonstrate how drawing on a cultural class analysis and education literature on learner identities and performativity can be productive in theorising the continued significance of class, and indeed also race and gender in young people's lives. In examining school-based friendships and (sub)cultural forms through empirical research in urban schools, I argue that not only are young people's subcultural groups structured by class, race and gender but also they are integral to the production of these identities. By examining the discursive productions of two school-based subcultures as examples: the ‘Smokers’ and the ‘Football’ crowd, I further argue that these identity positions embody resources or capitals which have differing value in the context of the urban school and thus demonstrate how race, class and gender privilege are maintain...
45 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Dating back to the work of Hargreaves (1967), Lacey (1970) and Willis (1977), subculture has been theorised as a ‘solution’ to classed contradictions in the education system (Brake 1980)....
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...Working-class pupils tend to be concentrated in lower streams, and thus dissociating from school, they identify with a role drawn from youth culture outside of school (Willis 1977), one which Willis (1977) argues destines them for manufacturing rather than professional work....
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...…resembled the counter school culture, embodied in the figure of the ‘delinquent’, the ‘lad:’ non-conformist, deviant school-based subcultures, made up of predominantly working-class boys who identify with a role drawn from youth culture outside of school (Hargreaves 1967; Lacey 1970; Willis 1977)....
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...These students were deemed high achieving by other students, but unlike the conformists (Hargreaves 1967; Lacey 1970) or the ‘earoles’ (Willis 1977) they were not a pathologised group but conferred rather more status, amongst their multiethnic working-class peers....
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TL;DR: The authors report evidence of pervasive black markets in confectionery, junk food, and energy drinks in English secondary schools, which represent a new form of counter-school resistance to institutional constraints within the context of enduring, although less visible, class-based stratification in British secondary schools.
Abstract: Drawing on two qualitative studies, we report evidence of pervasive black markets in confectionery, ‘junk’ food and energy drinks in English secondary schools. Data were collected at six schools through focus groups and interviews with students (n = 149) and staff (n = 36), and direct observations. Supermarkets, new technologies and teachers’ narrow focus on attainment have enabled these ‘underground businesses’ to emerge following increased state regulation of school food and drink provision. These activities represent a new form of counter-school resistance to institutional constraints within the context of enduring, although less visible, class-based stratification in British secondary schools. These black markets also appear to be partly driven by the unsafe and unsociable nature of school canteens, which was a recurring theme across all schools. These findings highlight how new school food ‘bans’ ignore the complex, ecological drivers of poor diet in youth and the potential for iatrogenic effects which exacerbate health inequalities.
45 citations
Cites background or methods from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Willis’ (1977) classic ethnographic study of the working-class ‘lads’ at a secondary school in the West Midlands (England) illustrated not only how students’ identities and actions emerged in opposition to secondary schools’ institutional features, but also how their counter-school cultural…...
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...…via which these unintended effects may occur, we draw on Giddens’ notion of ‘structuration’ as an over-arching theoretical framework, and situate Paul Willis’ (1977, 1990) concepts of ‘counter-school’ cultural resistance and youth ‘proto-communities’ within this, to explore the dynamics of agency…...
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...Willis’ (1977) study formed part of a wider body of work at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies on the resourcefulness of young people in resisting those identities ascribed to them by dominant social institutions (Hall and Jefferson, 1976) and in finding new spaces and styles…...
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...(Female, 15, The Crescent) Such cultural opposition to some extent echoes the clash of the middle-class school culture and working-class community and family culture observed by Willis (1977)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at the ways in which the experience of the natural environment was made available to the pupils and the types of activities provided for specific engagement with the local natural environment.
Abstract: In this paper we look at the ways in which the experience of the natural environment was made available to the pupils and the types of activities provided for specific engagement with the local natural environment. It draws upon research undertaken for the Well-being and Outdoor Pedagogies project and previous PhD research. These projects explored the processes of teaching and learning at one outdoor residential education centre. Data were collected through ethnographic research and included participant observation, interviews with teachers, parents and centre staff, and group interviews with pupils. Previous analyses of this research have highlighted a number of aspects of the experience, such as, for example, whilst the interviewed children reflected positively on the experience, the research highlighted the importance of teachers' interaction with the children in providing for democratic, shared, positive learning. The activities undertaken by the pupils included physical activities focusing upon team work and problem-solving, and activities that focused on exploring nature and the natural environment, which surrounded the residential centre. The dominant philosophy of the residential centre is considered, as are the ways in which nature and the natural environment appear largely taken for granted, but for reasons of safety.
45 citations
Cites methods from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...A qualitative approach was adopted, taking the form of an ethnographic study, which was considered to be sensitive to the individual and to the social processes (Davies, 1984; Griffin, 1985; Humberstone, 1986; Willis, 1977) in order to allow for an in-depth understanding of the phenomena explored....
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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