Identity, class and girls' achievement (positives for girls)

Question	Answer
Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities	Girls invest considerable amount of time and money into appearance - brought status form female peers Eval: This brought conflict with the school - violation of dress code, prevented from engaging in education. Bourdieu - symbolic violence (defining their culture as worthless).
Boyfriends	Boyfriends brought symbolic capital. However, it got in the way of schoolwork and lowered girls' aspirations - aspire to settle down and work locally.
Being 'loud'	Adopted loud, assertive and independent identities - questioned teachers' authority and failed to conform to school's stereotypes - interpreted behaviour as aggressive rather than assertive.
Working-class girls' dilemma	- gain symbolic capital - gain educational capital Archer - wc feminine identities and educational success were in conflict - investment in such identity was the main cause of underachievement.
'Successful' working-class girls sociologists	Evans Skegg Archer
Evans	Wanted to go to uni to increase earning power but for family not for themselves.
Skegg	Fear of debt was major issue for working-class girls when applying for uni. Eval: living at home made HE more affordable. Eval: this limited choice of uni and market value of degree.
Archer	Strong preference for the local/familiar - being close to family/caring = important part of identity - leads to self-exclusion.

Resource summary

	Created by Gertruda Dambrauskaite about 7 years ago