What are the effects of Material Deprivation? Part 2 A-Level Sociology Education Class Differences

Sociology of Education - Class Differences in Achievement
Part 2: What are the effects of Material Deprivation?
A-Level Sociology
We will cover the following sociological A-Level topics:
Housing
Diet and Health
Financial Support and the Costs of Education
Fear of Debt
Material or Cultural Issues?
Methods in Context: Researching Material Deprivation and Underachievement
Bourdieu and Cultural Capital
Educational and Economic Capital
A Test of Bourdieu’s Ideas
Evaluation of Material Deprivation
Many sociologists view educational failures as the result of material deprivation, compared to cultural deprivation theorists who point to working-class subculture deficiencies as the root cause. Material deprivation represents the conditions of poverty like a lack of material resources such as money and housing.
Poverty has been found to be associated with educational failure, for example the Department of Education indicate that less than one-third of students receiving free school lunches, as a measure of poverty, scored five or more GSCEs at A*-C including English and Math.
Jan Flaherty pointed out money issues are a significant predictor of school absences with younger children.
Poor children are more often truanting and excluded from school, leading them to avoid standard education with a third of chronic truants leaving school without the necessary skills.
Almost 90% of underperforming schools are located in deprived areas.
A link has been made between poverty and social class, where a majority of working-class families have low income and poor housing which can impact a child’s education in many ways.
Notes Taking Questions
What do material deprivation theorists believe?
How do housing, diet and health, debt and financial support affect educational success?
Material deprivation and lack of educational success have positive and negative research implications. Give THREE examples
What is Bourdieu’s Cultural Capital?
What is Bourdieu’s Educational and Economic Capital?
Evaluate material deprivation