Insider Perspectives or Stealing the Words out of Women's Mouths: Interpretation in the Research Process

1996 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Reay
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Personal History ◽  
Primary Schooling ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Dividing Line

This article examines the ways in which social class differences between the researcher and female respondents affect data analysis. I elaborate the ways in which my class background, just as much as my gender, affects all stages of the research process from theoretical starting points to conclusions. The influences of reflexivity, power and ‘truth’ on the interpretative process are developed by drawing on fieldnotes and interviews from an ethnographic study of women's involvement in their children's primary schooling. Complexities of social class are explored both in relation to myself as the researcher and to how the women saw themselves. I argue that there is a thin dividing line between the understandings which similar experiences of respondents bring to the research process and the element of exploitation implicit in mixing up one's own personal history with those of women whose experience of the same class is very different. Identification can result in a denial of the power feminist researchers exercise in the selection and interpretation of data. However, researchers are similarly powerful in relation to women from very different class backgrounds to their own, and I attempt to draw out problematic issues around power and ‘truth’ in relation to the middle-class women whom I interviewed. I conclude by reiterating that, from where I am socially positioned, certain aspects of the data are much more prominent than others and as a consequence interpretation remains an imperfect and incomplete process.

scholarly journals ‘Let’s talk about it’: Why social class matters to restorative justice

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxana Willis
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Justice Theory ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Comparative Methodology ◽  
Ethnographic Observation

Communication is universal to human beings, regardless of gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability and so forth. But though communication is a shared capacity, individuals and groups communicate in diverse ways. This study investigates how specifically social class influences participation in scripted restorative justice by affecting how participants communicate. Data from an ethnographic study indicate that restorative justice implementation is not class-neutral because it appears to privilege middle-class forms of communication, and participants from middle-class backgrounds may therefore be more powerfully positioned in restorative justice processes than participants from less advantaged backgrounds. To show this, a comparative methodology is adopted, which involves ethnographic observation and critical discussion of two contrasting restorative justice conferences. The implications of class-based linguistic disadvantage for restorative justice theory are subsequently discussed. The author recommends that restorative justice commits itself to an equality of opportunity which allows stakeholders to participate fully irrespective of their class background.

scholarly journals Time and money explain social class differences in students’ social integration at university.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Working Class Students ◽  
Exclusion Effect

Working-class students tend to be less socially integrated at university than middle-class students (Rubin, 2012a). The present research investigated two potential reasons for this working-class social exclusion effect. First, working-class students may have fewer finances available to participate in social activities. Second, working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students and, consequently, they are likely to have more work and/or childcare commitments. These additional commitments may prevent them from attending campus which, in turn, reduces their opportunity for social integration. These predictions were confirmed among undergraduate students at an Australian university (N = 433) and a USA university (N = 416). Strategies for increasing working-class students’ social integration at university are discussed.

“I Need Help!” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 862-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica McCrory Calarco
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Unequal Opportunities ◽  
Do So

What role do children play in education and stratification? Are they merely passive recipients of unequal opportunities that schools and parents create for them? Or do they actively shape their own opportunities? Through a longitudinal, ethnographic study of one socioeconomically diverse, public elementary school, I show that children’s social-class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom. Compared to their working-class peers, middle-class children request more help from teachers and do so using different strategies. Rather than wait for assistance, they call out or approach teachers directly, even interrupting to make requests. In doing so, middle-class children receive more help from teachers, spend less time waiting, and are better able to complete assignments. By demonstrating these skills and strategies, middle-class children create their own advantages and contribute to inequalities in the classroom. These findings have implications for theories of cultural capital, stratification, and social reproduction.

scholarly journals Class, caring and disability: evidence from the British Retirement Survey

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN GLASER ◽  
EMILY GRUNDY
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Family Obligations ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
National Statistics ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Resident Care ◽  
Middle Generation ◽  
Provision Of Care

There has been an increasing interest in the caring responsibilities of middle generation individuals as numerous studies have noted the continuing family obligations of people in later life. Employing data from the United Kingdom Office of National Statistics Retirement Survey of 1988/89, we examined social class differentials in the provision of care by 55–69 year olds. Our results show few social class differences in the provision of co-resident care to a parent (among those aged 55–69 in 1988/89 with at least one living parent), but significant social class differences in the provision of care to a spouse. Working class individuals were more likely to be caring for a spouse than their middle class counterparts because of the higher prevalence of disability among this group.

scholarly journals Age differences explain social class differences in students’ friendship at university: Implications for transition and retention.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Working Class Students ◽  
Social Class Difference

The present research tested the hypotheses that (a) working-class students have fewer friends at university than middle-class students, and (b) this social class difference occurs because working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students. A sample of 376 first-year undergraduate students from an Australian university completed an online survey that contained measures of social class and age as well as quality and quantity of actual and desired friendship at university. Consistent with predictions, age differences significantly mediated social class differences in friendship. The Discussion focuses on potential policy implications for improving working-class students’ friendships at university in order to improve their transition and retention.

Age/Grade and Social-Class Differences in Descriptions and Inquiries about Games

1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-255
Author(s):  
Denise M. Worth
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Eighth Grade ◽  
Socioeconomic Differences ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Performance Differences ◽  
Grade 8

This study explored cognitive performance differences between disadvantaged and middle-class boys on descriptive and inquiry tasks relating to everyday games. Fourth and eighth grade boys from both social classes were asked to describe the game they played most, then to learn a new game using yes-or-no questioning. The interviews were content-analyzed by category of game information and rated for effectiveness of description and inquiry. Grade 8 boys covered a wider array of categories for a description or inquiry of a given length. They were also more likely to explore the object of the game on all tasks. Grade 4 boys more frequently seemed at a loss in generating questions on the inquiry task. Socioeconomic differences were present, favoring middle-class boys, but they were smaller and less consistent than age/grade differences, and somewhat greater at Grade 4. While most Grade 8 boys were able to pursue an inquiry, more middle-class boys seemed involved in the task in a positive and motivated way. Complexity of grade and social-class differences in cognitive performance and the need for further research were discussed.

Occurrence of Sex and Social Class Differences in Premorbid Competence, Symptom and Outcome Measures in Acute Schizophrenics

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Raskin ◽  
Risa Golob
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Recreational Activities ◽  
Female Patients ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Social Achievement ◽  
Negative Findings

An investigation was made of the occurrence of sex and social class differences in 15 premorbid competence, 14 symptom and two outcome measures. The sample comprised 138 newly admitted schizophrenics from nine hospitals. Middle-class patients evinced greater pre-adolescent psychic disturbance, greater premorbid interest and involvement in interpersonal, social and recreational activities, and were more emotionally unrestrained on admission than working-class patients. Female patients were older, more often married, higher on premorbid social achievement, and lower on symptoms characterizing grandiosity. The implications of these essentially negative findings for the process-reactive distinction in schizophrenia, and Zigler and Phillips' reported relationship between premorbid competence and symptoms, are discussed.

The impact of social class and social cognitive domain on northeastern Brazilian mothers' and daughters' conceptions of parental control

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Tereza Lins-Dyer ◽  
Larry Nucci
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Cognitive Domain ◽  
Mothers And Daughters ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Mother Daughter Relationship ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Actual Control

The impact of social class was explored on Brazilian mothers' and daughters' conceptions of who should, and who actually would control decisions regarding the daughters' actions. Participants were 126 middle class and 126 lower class girls aged 11–16 years, and their mothers. No social class differences were found in daughters' judgments about who should control decisions. Lower class daughters perceived mothers as exerting greater actual control than did middle class daughters. Lower class mothers claimed higher control over prudential and conventional matters than did middle class mothers. Findings that daughters and mothers in both social classes viewed personal matters as under the daughters' control challenged the notion that interdependence is fostered by the mother–daughter relationship and are consistent with more recent views that an individualism–collectivism dichotomy should not be used to characterize cultures.

Verbal Activity of Middle- and Lower-Class Parents When Teaching Their Child

1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 575-578
Author(s):  
Theodore Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Family Interaction ◽  
Experimental Task ◽  
Verbal Activity ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Teaching Interaction ◽  
Middle Class Families

The present study attempted to evaluate the influence of social class insofar as determining patterns of parental activity during a parent-to-child teaching interaction. In all respects subject composition was the same as previously reported. The experimental task required parents to explain the meaning of a proverb to their son, and during this interaction total talking time was recorded for each family member. Results supported expectations that fathers spoke more than mothers in middle-class families and almost equal to mothers in lower-class families. The meaning of class differences in family interaction is discussed and directions for research are described.

Social Class Differences in Language Predictability: Written

1973 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicent E. Poole
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Experimental Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Class Origin ◽  
First Year University

Two cloze-tests were constructed from written essays encoded by 80 first-year university students of middle-class and working-class origin. In a second experimental situation, 46 tertiary subjects were asked to ‘fill in’ the missing cloze deletions of these written passages. Within the terms of the Bernstein elaborated-restricted code framework it was posited that, since working class language is thought to be characterized by greater lexical and structural predictability, these passages would facilitate the decoding task. The analysis was based firstly on a ‘verbatim’ cloze completion criterion and secondly utilized an information theory approach. Results on the first criterion indicated significant social class differences (higher predictability of working-class messages on lexical and total cloze deletions); whereas those on the second criterion were nonsignificant. Possible implications of the study for teaching were explored.

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