The Precarious Nature of Social Class-Sensitivity in Literacy: …

A Social, Autobiographic, and Pedagogical Project

an article by Mark D. Vagle and Stephanie Jones The University of Georgia, Athens, USA) published in Curriculum Inquiry Volume 42 Issue 3 (June 2012)

Abstract

Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s (1947/1964) phenomenological notion of the threads of intentionality that tie subject and object together meaningfully and Pierre Bourdieu’s (1986, 2000; Bourdieu & Waquant, 1992) reflexive sociology and constructs of habitus, field, capital, and nomos, we theorize social class-sensitivity in literacy education as a social, autobiographic, and pedagogical project; a recognition of the powerful unnamed context of middle-class normality; and an illumination of the precarious ways in which working-class and poor students are positioned in schools.

We assume that although issues related to race, gender, and sexuality intersect in complex ways with class, social class issues in classroom pedagogy are too often ignored and under-theorized. Therefore, there is a need to spend concerted time considering social class specifically.

We close by asking pedagogues to think seriously about the reality that working-class and poor students enter classrooms each day saturated in precariousness; to not label students and families as the problem; and to be the ones to take responsibility for alleviating the precarious positions in which working-class and poor students and families live while in educational institutions.

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University as vocational education: ...

working-class students’ expectations for university

an article by Wolfgang Lehmann (The University of Western Ontario, Canada) published in
British Journal of Sociology of Education Volume 30 Issue 2 (March 2009)

Abstract

Labour market conditions, a pervasive public discourse about the benefits of higher education, and parental hopes push many young working-class people into university. The institutional culture and demands of university, however, often remain elusive and fraught with uncertainty. In this paper, I draw on qualitative interviews with first-generation, working-class students at a Canadian university to analyse the ways in which these students discuss their reasons to attend and their expectations for university, and the implications of their attitudes for their future success at university. Analysis of the interview data shows how the relatively high and risky investment of working-class youth in education leads to strong utilitarian and vocational orientations toward university. Although a narrow focus on the career potential of university is generally perceived as problematic, I argue that it may also help working-class students in their transition to university. Nonetheless, a critical educational process is necessary that not only helps working-class students achieve their educational and occupational goals, but also understand their unique status in a social institution that they entered as outsiders.

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