Cultural deprivation

Cultural deprivation is a theory in sociology where a person has inferior norms, values, skills and knowledge. The theory states that people of lower social classes experience cultural deprivation compared with those above and that this disadvantages them, as a result of which the gap between classes increases.

For example, in education, lower-class students can suffer from cultural deprivation as their parents do not know the best school for their child, but middle-class parents "know the system", and so can send their children to the best school for them. This puts the lower-class students at a disadvantage, thus increasing inequality and the gap between middle-class and lower-class students.

Proponents of this theory argue that working class culture (regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or other factors) inherently differs from that of people in the middle class. This difference in culture means that while middle-class children can easily acquire cultural capital by observing their parents, working-class children cannot, and this deprivation is self-perpetuating.

The theory claims that the middle class gains cultural capital as the result of primary socialization, while the working class does not. Cultural capital helps the middle class succeed in society because their norms and values facilitate educational achievement and subsequent employability. Working-class members of society that lack cultural capital do not pass it on to their children, perpetuating the class system.^[1] Middle-class children's cultural capital allows them to communicate with their middle-class teachers more effectively than working-class children and this contributes to social inequality.^[2]

Bourdieu claimed that state schools are set up to make everybody middle-class, although only the middle class and some high-achieving working class have the cultural capital to achieve this.^[3] From a Marxist perspective, cultural deprivation observes that the resources available to the working class are limited and that working-class children enter school less well-prepared than others.^[4]

Sources

Willis, Paul E. (1977). Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-05357-0.
Webb, Jen; Schirato, Tony; Danaher, Geoff (29 March 2002). Understanding Bourdieu. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-7463-5.
Morais, Ana; Neves, I.; Davies, B.; Daniels, H. (1 January 2001). Towards a Sociology of Pedagogy: The Contributions of Basil Bernstein to Research. Peter Lang Publishing, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-8204-5585-3.

References

^ Willis 1977.
^ Morais et al. 2001.
^ Webb, Schirato & Danaher 2002.
^ "What does cultural deprivation mean?". www.definitions.net. Retrieved 2023-12-13.

[FOOTNOTEWillis1977-1] Willis 1977.

[FOOTNOTEMoraisNevesDaviesDaniels2001-2] Morais et al. 2001.

[FOOTNOTEWebbSchiratoDanaher2002-3] Webb, Schirato & Danaher 2002.

[4] "What does cultural deprivation mean?". www.definitions.net. Retrieved 2023-12-13.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Culture
Outline
Sciences	Cultural anthropology Cultural astronomy Cultural ecology Cultural geography Cultural neuroscience Cultural studies Culturology Culture theory
Subfields	Bioculture Cross-cultural studies Cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural leadership Cross-cultural psychiatry Cross-cultural psychology Cultural analytics Cultural economics Cultural entomology Cultural history Cultural mapping Cultural mediation Cultural psychology Cultural values Culturomics Intercultural learning Intercultural relations Internet culture Philosophy of culture Popular culture studies Postcritique Semiotics of culture Sociology of culture Sound culture Theology of culture Transcultural nursing
Types	Constructed culture Dominant culture Folk culture High culture Individualistic culture Legal culture Low culture Microculture Official culture Political culture Civic Popular culture Urban Primitive culture Resistance through culture Subculture Alternative culture Fandom Far-right subcultures Youth subculture list Super culture Vernacular culture Culture by location
Aspects	Acculturation Cultural appreciation Cultural appropriation Cultural area Cultural artifact Cultural baggage Cultural behavior Cultural bias Cultural capital Cross-cultural Cultural communication Cultural conflict Cultural cringe Cultural dissonance Cultural emphasis Cultural framework Cultural heritage Destroyed Cultural icon Cultural identity Cultural industry Cultural invention Cultural landscape Cultural learning Cultural leveling Cultural memory Cultural pluralism Cultural practice Cultural property Cultural reproduction Cultural system Cultural technology Cultural universal Cultureme Enculturation High- and low-context cultures Interculturality Manuscript culture Material culture Non-material culture Organizational culture Print culture Protoculture Relational mobility Safety culture Technoculture Trans-cultural diffusion Transculturation Visual culture
Politics	Colonial mentality Consumer capitalism Cross cultural sensitivity Cultural assimilation Cultural attaché Cultural backwardness Cultural Bolshevism Cultural conservatism Cultural contracts Cultural deprivation Cultural diplomacy Cultural environmentalism Cultural exception Cultural feminism Cultural genocide Cultural globalization Cultural hegemony Cultural imperialism Cultural intelligence Cultural liberalism Cultural nationalism Cultural pessimism Cultural policy Cultural racism Cultural radicalism Cultural retention Cultural Revolution Cultural rights Cultural safety Cultural silence Cultural subsidy Cultural Zionism Culture change Culture minister Culture of fear Culture war Deculturalization Dominator culture Interculturalism Monoculturalism Multiculturalism Biculturalism Multiracial democracy Pluriculturalism Polyculturalism Transculturism
Religions	Buddhism Christianity Catholicism Cultural Christians Protestantism Role of Christianity in civilization Eastern Orthodoxy Mormonism Cultural Hindus Islam Cultural Muslims Judaism Sikhism
Related	Animal culture Archaeological culture Bennett scale Cannabis culture Circuit of culture Civilization Coffee culture Cross-cultural Cultural center Cultural competence Cultural critic Cultural determinism Cultural diversity Cultural evolutionism Cultural homogenization Cultural institution Cultural jet lag Cultural lag Cultural literacy Cultural mosaic Cultural movement Cultural mulatto Cultural probe Cultural relativism Culture speculation Cultural tourism Pop-culture Cultural translation Cultural turn Cultural sensibility Culture and menstruation Culture and positive psychology Culture and social cognition Culture gap Culture hero Culture industry Culture shock Culturgen Children's culture Culturalism Cyberculture Death and culture Disability culture Deaf culture Drinking culture Drug culture Eastern culture Emotions and culture Intercultural communication Intercultural competence Languaculture Living things in culture Media culture Oppositional culture Participatory culture Permission culture Rape culture Remix culture Tea culture Transformation of culture Urban culture Welfare culture Western culture Youth culture
Category Commons WikiProject Changes

Sources

Further reading

References