Cultural Deficit vs Cultural Discontinuity Cultural Deprivation measures

Cultural Deficit vs. Cultural Discontinuity • Cultural Deprivation measures culturally distinct methods of communicating against “standard English” thus incorporating a value system that ranks anything other than standard English as “deficient” or “inappropriate” • Cultural Discontinuity argues that we cannot assign value judgments nor measure different modes of communication against an Anglo, middle class norm. Rather, we should look at different modes of communication as culturally relative.

Cultural Discontinuity • Race and Ethnicity: – culturally based differences in the communication styles between many students of color and the Anglo culture of the school lead to conflicts, misunderstandings, and, ultimately, failure for those students • Class: – culturally based differences in the communication styles between lower class students’ home and the middle to upper class culture of the school lead to conflicts, misunderstandings, and, ultimately, failure for those students • Recommendation: – The research focuses on the process, rather than the structure of education and concludes that making the classroom more culturally appropriate will mean a higher rate of achievement

Class and Cultural Discontinuity • Pierre Bourdieu: the most well-known conflict constructivist within the sociology of education, characterizes education as an institution that reproduces the social order – • emphasis on the cultural, interactive, and conflictual nature of education Bourdieu’s concepts of forms of capital and habitus describe his general theory of reproduction which is acclaimed for its emphasis on culture and critique of cultural deficit models, and support for more culturally relevant pedagogy

Bourdieu’s Concept of Habitus • Habitus: consists of a set of historical relations ‘deposited’ within individual bodies in the form of mental and physical schemata of perception, appreciation, and action. – • Schema: frameworks we use to understand interactions and events. Habitus is our beliefs, values, cultural understandings, and ways of behaving – everything in our histories that we physically and mentally embody

Habitus and Social Reproduction • Habitus is a self-perpetuating mechanism that reproduces social relationships – As long as an individual is a product of the same habitus in which they continue to function, the individual will reproduce their habitus – product of habitus + functioning within that habitus= reproduction of habitus – Example: As long as I am product of the upper-middle class and continue to live and function within the uppermiddle class, I will reproduce my habitus- enact it and hand it down to my children

Three Forms of Capital – Economic capital- that which can be “directly convertible into money” as well as institutionalized in the form of property – Social capital: resources derived from networks of people and groups. Social capital is essentially social networking as an “investment strategy” – Cultural Capital: forms of knowledge; skill; education; any advantages a person has which give them a higher status in society, including high expectations. • Exists in three forms: embodied state, objectified state, institutionalized state

Cultural Capital: Embodied State • The internalization of certain “dispositions of the mind and body”- what an individual knows and utilizes from within – Includes normative behaviors such as language use, manner of dress, and the “proper” guidelines for conducting oneself ***The embodied state of cultural capital can be learned, and if learned, cultural capital can alter one’s habitus • the embodied state of cultural capital is a process not easily transmitted as with money.

Cultural Capital: Objectified State • The “objectified state” of cultural capital refers to cultural objects such as books. • The objectified state of cultural capital may be consumed through money and/or embodied through the appreciation of a fine painting – Cultural objects can be consumed materially which presupposes economic capital – Cultural objects can be consumed symbolically which presupposes cultural capital

Cultural Capital: Institutionalized State • Institutionalized state of cultural capital: the objectification of cultural capital in the form of academic qualification – This presupposes academic success and is therefore dependent on the embodiment of cultural capital

Conclusions • The differential accumulation of capital through material gains and embodied features drives and reproduces social inequalities • Students from backgrounds rich in the three forms of capital have the preferred cultural capital that enables them to function in school – • Covert function of cultural capital within the school system: students that possess the appropriate cultural capital will be recognized as “advanced” leaving those that do not possess the same cultural capital left to reproduce their habitus. – • These students have a particular knowledge that allows them to navigate through the school system by displaying desired behavior and/or conforming to unspoken norms Impacts the possibilities of being funneled into college prep vs. vocational courses Masked through the ideology of meritocracy: individuals who do not have the desired cultural capital are labeled as lacking in intelligence and the drive to succeed

Bourdieu and Cultural Discontinuity • Bourdieu pinpoints the conflict between cultures as they play out in power dynamics of the classroom • Though his work focuses on class, it can also be used as a springboard to talk about ethnicity • The problem according to cultural discontinuity is not about cultures being deficient but rather different. – The role of power in these situations translates difference into forms of oppression and social inequalities