Social Class—Sex Contrasts in Patterns of Cognitive Style

1977 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicent E. Poole

Ninety-six adolescents, aged between fifteen and sixteen, and drawn from contrasted social class and sex groups, were administered a battery of cognitive style tests. It was hypothesized, largely on the basis of socialization theory, that different patterns of intellectual functioning would be apparent. The results indicated that middle-class boys exhibited a cognitive style that was differentiating, analytic and flexible; middle-class girls one that was creative, inferential, high on psychological concepts but low on category estimation; working-class boys and girls displayed little differentiation, categorizing flexibility, or creativity but revealed a marked preference for inferential and physical concepts.

1982 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Poole

In a cross-cultural replication of an Australian study, multiple discriminant function analysis was used on responses of a sample of 79 Californian adolescents (classified on an SES/Life Style index) to determine whether their pattern of cognitive functioning differed on a battery of cognitive style tests along a social-class/sex dimension. On Function I, middle-class (M) and working-class (W) boys displayed broad estimates of category width, while middle-class girls and working-class girls scored high on originality and conceptual differentiation, but low on category width. On Function II, middle-class girls and boys scored higher on conceptual preference for descriptive-analytic labels, and on category width working-class girls and boys showed a preference for inferential labels. The results indicated close similarity between the Australian and United States sample in terms of the dimensions analysed, although both groups of U.S. girls displayed greater preference for analytic and creative modes, respectively. Results were interpreted within socialization theory, the discrepant results being attributed to different socialization clusters operating within the culture.


1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicent E. Poole ◽  
T. W. Field

The Bernstein thesis of elaborated and restricted coding orientation in oral communication was explored at an Australian tertiary institute. A working-class/middle-class dichotomy was established on the basis of parental occupation and education, and differences in overall coding orientation were found to be associated with social class. This study differed from others in the area in that the social class groups were contrasted in the totality of their coding orientation on the elaborated/restricted continuum, rather than on discrete indices of linguistic coding.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin

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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146954052110396
Author(s):  
Joanna Zalewska ◽  
Marcin Jewdokimow

Consumption in modern, capitalist countries is studied through the lens of fashion. We claim that it is fruitful to apply the concept of fashion to an analysis of consumption in a modern socialist country. By using the example of the wall unit, we discuss the emergence of fashion through the mechanism of state policy in Poland under the Communist regime. The socialist state was responsible for the propagation and implementation of modernity. The idea of progress was internalized by citizens and enacted by social emulation. Additionally, our study reveals that social class was a means of determining different attitudes toward fashion: members of the working class saw value in imitation and exact copying (revealing a monocentric approach to fashion) while the middle class engaged in a polycentric approach, that is, they valued individual creativity, mixed various styles, and were inspired by trends from western countries.


2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 862-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica McCrory Calarco

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.


2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Pearce ◽  
Barry Down ◽  
Elizabeth Moore

Through the use of narrative portraits this paper discusses social class and identity, as working-class university students perceive them. With government policy encouraging wider participation rates from under-represented groups of people within the university sector, working-class students have found themselves to be the objects of much research. Working-class students are, for the most part, studied as though they are docile bodies, unable to participate in the construction of who they are, and working-class accounts of university experiences are quite often compared to the middle-class norms. This paper explores how working-class students see themselves within the university culture. Working-class students' voices and stories form the focus of this paper, in which the language of ‘disadvantage’ is dealt with and the ideologies of class identity explored.


1972 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 329-330
Author(s):  
H. Wayne Hogan ◽  
C. Boyd Loadholt

Using the Semantic Differential, 46 undergraduates evaluated as theoretically expected 12 social-psychological concepts as they themselves felt about each concept and as they thought hypothesized members of four social-class categories would evaluate them. The evaluation scores of the generally working-class Ss were much more similar to those projected onto the middle and upper classes than those attributed to the lower and working classes.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Ali Muhammad ◽  
Andhika Pratiwi ◽  
Ria Herwandar

<p><em>Abstract - </em><strong>This research entitled “Middle Class Rebellion through the Main Characters in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club” analyses the portrayal of the Middle Classes which is depicted through the main characters. These characters are undertaking a Rebellion towards the system of Capitalism that is depicted in the novel Fight Club. The theory used in this research is the theory of the intrinsic element of Characterization by M.H. Abrams and the theory Capitalism by Karl Marx which includes the theory of Alienation and the Struggle of Social Classes. This research focuses on the portrayal of how Middle Classes undertake their Rebellion which is depicted through the main characters in the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. This research has found that the two main characters are a depiction of the Middle Class and the Working Class. They rebel against Capitalism by doing small acts of vandalism which escalates into blackmail. The findings are that the real characteristics of modern society of the middle class can be seen  such as consumerism, restless life towards insomnia and workers who identify themselves as not workers.</strong></p><p><strong><em>Keywords - </em></strong><em>Middle Class, Rebellion, Social Class, Marxism, Capitalism</em></p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 95S-113S ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Dean

This article utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and cultural capital to offer some explanation as to why there is a lack of class diversity in formal volunteering in the United Kingdom. Recent studies have shown that participation in volunteering is heavily dependent on social class revolving around a highly committed middle-class “civic core” of volunteers. This article draws on original qualitative research to argue that the delivery of recent youth volunteering policies has unintentionally reinforced participation within this group, rather than widening access to diverse populations including working-class young people. Drawing on interviews with volunteer recruiters, it is shown that the pressure to meet targets forces workers to recruit middle-class young people whose habitus allows them to fit instantly into volunteering projects. Furthermore, workers perceive working-class young people as recalcitrant to volunteering, thereby reinforcing any inhabited resistance, and impeding access to the benefits of volunteering.


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