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Material Deprivation
What is material deprivation?
Material deprivation: poverty and a lack of material necessities.
Poverty and material deprivation are closely linked to educational
underachievement:
In 2019, only 51% of pupils on FSM gained a grade 4 or above in Maths
and English, in comparison to 77% of all pupils.
Nearly 90% of all failing schools are located in deprived areas.
Housing
Poor housing can affect the achievement of working-class pupils:
Overcrowding makes it harder for a pupil to study, they may not have
the space to do homework and their sleeping may be disturbed.
Young children have less space to play and explore.
Families who live in temporary accommodation may have to move
frequently which means a pupil may have to transfer schools often.
Can have an adverse affect on a child’s health (e.g. accidents or damp
in housing) which then leads to poor attendance.
Diet and health
Howard (2001): pupils from poorer homes receive less energy, vitamins and
minerals → poor health and difficulty concentrating in class.
Wilkinson (1996): found that among ten-year-olds, the lower the social
class the more likely they were to have hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct
disorders.
Blanden and Machin (2007): children from low income families were more
likely to externalise their behaviour, e.g. fighting and tantrums.
Material Deprivation 1
1
, Financial support
Tanner et al (2003): found that the cost of items necessary for school, such
as books, uniforms, travel etc. placed a heavy burden on poorer families.
Bull (1980): calls this the costs of free schooling.
A lack of financial support means that children from poorer families may
have to do without these items → feeling isolated, being stigmatised or
bullying.
Flaherty (2004): fear of stigmatisation may explain why 20% of students
eligible for free school meals don’t take up the offer.
Smith and Noble (1995): note that poverty can be a barrier to education in
other ways, such as the inability to afford private tutors and only having
access to poorer quality schools.
Ridge (2002): children living in poverty have to take on part-time work
which then has a negative impact on their school work.
Fear of debt
Fear of ending up in debt may prevent working-class pupils from attending
university.
Callender and Jackson (2005): used data from a nationwide survey that
involved nearly 2,000 prospective students.
working-class students are more debt adverse and see it as a
negative thing that should be avoided.
they saw more costs than benefits in going to university.
debt adverse students (working class) were five times less likely to
apply to university compared to the debt tolerant pupils (middle
class).
UCAS (2012): when university tuition fees were raised to £9,000, the
number of UK applicants fell by 8.6% compared to the previous year.
National Union of Students (2010): used an online survey of university
students and found out that 81% of students from the highest social class
Material Deprivation 2
2
, received financial support from home, compared to only 43% of students
from the lowest class.
Explains why only around 30% of students are working-class despite
the fact that they account for around half the population.
Reay (2005): found that working-class students were more likely to attend
local universities to save on costs, but this often prevented them from
attending the top universities.
Found that they were also likely to work part-time alongside their
degrees, but this made it difficult for them to gain higher class degrees.
The National Audit Office (2002): found that working-class students
spent twice as much time in paid work to reduce their debts as middle-
class students.
Dropout rates are higher at universities with a large population of working-
class students.
E.g. the dropout rate at London Metropolitan is 18.6% compared to only
1.2% at Oxford.
Material Deprivation 3
3
, 📚
Cultural Capital
Three types of capital
Bourdieu (1984): uses the term capital to argue that both cultural and
material factors impact achievement and are the reason why the middle
class are more successful.
The three types of capital are:
Economic capital
Educational capital
Cultural capital
Cultural Capital
Cultural capital: the knowledge, attitudes, values, language and ability of
the middle class.
Through socialisation, middle-class children gain the ability to grasp,
analyse and express abstract more ideas and they are more likely to
develop intellectual interests that lead to to success in the education
system.
Whereas working-class children acknowledge that school devalues
their culture and believe that this means that education system isn’t for
them → truanting and a lack of effort in school.
Economic and Educational Capital
Bourdieu argues that educational, economic and cultural capital can be
converted into one another.
E.g. Middle-class parents use their economic capital to give their
children educational capital by sending them to private school.
Cultural Capital 1
4
Material Deprivation
What is material deprivation?
Material deprivation: poverty and a lack of material necessities.
Poverty and material deprivation are closely linked to educational
underachievement:
In 2019, only 51% of pupils on FSM gained a grade 4 or above in Maths
and English, in comparison to 77% of all pupils.
Nearly 90% of all failing schools are located in deprived areas.
Housing
Poor housing can affect the achievement of working-class pupils:
Overcrowding makes it harder for a pupil to study, they may not have
the space to do homework and their sleeping may be disturbed.
Young children have less space to play and explore.
Families who live in temporary accommodation may have to move
frequently which means a pupil may have to transfer schools often.
Can have an adverse affect on a child’s health (e.g. accidents or damp
in housing) which then leads to poor attendance.
Diet and health
Howard (2001): pupils from poorer homes receive less energy, vitamins and
minerals → poor health and difficulty concentrating in class.
Wilkinson (1996): found that among ten-year-olds, the lower the social
class the more likely they were to have hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct
disorders.
Blanden and Machin (2007): children from low income families were more
likely to externalise their behaviour, e.g. fighting and tantrums.
Material Deprivation 1
1
, Financial support
Tanner et al (2003): found that the cost of items necessary for school, such
as books, uniforms, travel etc. placed a heavy burden on poorer families.
Bull (1980): calls this the costs of free schooling.
A lack of financial support means that children from poorer families may
have to do without these items → feeling isolated, being stigmatised or
bullying.
Flaherty (2004): fear of stigmatisation may explain why 20% of students
eligible for free school meals don’t take up the offer.
Smith and Noble (1995): note that poverty can be a barrier to education in
other ways, such as the inability to afford private tutors and only having
access to poorer quality schools.
Ridge (2002): children living in poverty have to take on part-time work
which then has a negative impact on their school work.
Fear of debt
Fear of ending up in debt may prevent working-class pupils from attending
university.
Callender and Jackson (2005): used data from a nationwide survey that
involved nearly 2,000 prospective students.
working-class students are more debt adverse and see it as a
negative thing that should be avoided.
they saw more costs than benefits in going to university.
debt adverse students (working class) were five times less likely to
apply to university compared to the debt tolerant pupils (middle
class).
UCAS (2012): when university tuition fees were raised to £9,000, the
number of UK applicants fell by 8.6% compared to the previous year.
National Union of Students (2010): used an online survey of university
students and found out that 81% of students from the highest social class
Material Deprivation 2
2
, received financial support from home, compared to only 43% of students
from the lowest class.
Explains why only around 30% of students are working-class despite
the fact that they account for around half the population.
Reay (2005): found that working-class students were more likely to attend
local universities to save on costs, but this often prevented them from
attending the top universities.
Found that they were also likely to work part-time alongside their
degrees, but this made it difficult for them to gain higher class degrees.
The National Audit Office (2002): found that working-class students
spent twice as much time in paid work to reduce their debts as middle-
class students.
Dropout rates are higher at universities with a large population of working-
class students.
E.g. the dropout rate at London Metropolitan is 18.6% compared to only
1.2% at Oxford.
Material Deprivation 3
3
, 📚
Cultural Capital
Three types of capital
Bourdieu (1984): uses the term capital to argue that both cultural and
material factors impact achievement and are the reason why the middle
class are more successful.
The three types of capital are:
Economic capital
Educational capital
Cultural capital
Cultural Capital
Cultural capital: the knowledge, attitudes, values, language and ability of
the middle class.
Through socialisation, middle-class children gain the ability to grasp,
analyse and express abstract more ideas and they are more likely to
develop intellectual interests that lead to to success in the education
system.
Whereas working-class children acknowledge that school devalues
their culture and believe that this means that education system isn’t for
them → truanting and a lack of effort in school.
Economic and Educational Capital
Bourdieu argues that educational, economic and cultural capital can be
converted into one another.
E.g. Middle-class parents use their economic capital to give their
children educational capital by sending them to private school.
Cultural Capital 1
4
