This study investigates the home and school learning of a sample of sixteen four year- old children who started school in a working-class neighbourhood in an English provincial town in September 1997. The children, from English and Bangladeshi families, are viewed as embedded cases within a single case study of a Reception class. The study uses mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, within a broadly ethnographic approach, to describe the children's learning in their families, and to monitor their progress throughout the Reception year. The children's attainments were assessed at age 4, when they entered school, and again the following July. The study constructs and analyses its data on the children's learning within a framework of concepts derived from the social theories of Basil Bernstein and Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and the forms of capital are used to describe and analyse the ways in which children acquire their individual 'systems of dispositions' towards learning in their families. Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse is employed to compare the curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation practised in children's homes with that of their Reception classroom. Both theorists attribute the differential educational and social success of children from different backgrounds to the symbolic control which transmits broad macro power relations into socialising institutions such as families and schools. The thesis focuses in turn on: the habitus and capital of individual families within their social and ethnic groups; the curriculum and pedagogy of children's homes; the pedagogic discourse of the classroom; children's adaptation to school, and attainments on entry; and their Reception progress and outcomes. Throughout the thesis a series of individual case studies illustrates the ways in which the regulative and instructional discourses of home and school influence children's social and cognitive development, and their school achievement.

No description available.

No description available.

Although many anthropologists have studied transnational groups, few consider the way in which social organisation takes place in globalising environments. An examination of the use of symbols of Germanness and cosmopolitanism in the selfpresentation of German businesspeople in London suggests that, in doing so, they are not defining themselves as a solidary group so much as they are engaging in complex negotiations between global and local social entities. Combining Anthony Cohen's theory of the symbolic construction of groups (1985) with Erving Goffman's of strategic self-presentation (1956), I begin by examining Sklair' s (2001) hypothesis that transnational businesspeople form a detached, globalised, solidary "transnational capitalist class." I then consider the ways in which symbols are actually used in transnational business, through a case study focusing around the London branches of two German banks, the Head Office of one of them, and German-focused institutions in the UK. My analysis reveals that not only is transnational businesspeople' s use of symbols more complex than the construction of a single social group, they also use the multivalency of symbols to shift their selfpresentations and affiliations in response to the activities of other actors. I conclude by postulating a new way of looking at transnational social formations, incorporating Sklair's theory, Castells' "Network Society" ( 1996) and Appadurai's "Global Landscapes": the Transnational Capitalist Society model (TCS). This is a theoretical construct comprising all actors engaging in business activity across borders at any given time; it also includes the links between transnational social formations, and local entities inasmuch as they engage in transnational capitalism. An examination of the symbolic self-presentation of German transnational businesspeople thus suggests that, not only are they not a solidary, detached "class," but the complex, shifting nature of their interactions points to the need for a more diffuse, multiply engaged model for considering transnational social formations.

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Social stratification is a major area of thought in theoretical social analysis. Although much has since been said in this area, the theories of social stratification put forward by Karl Marx remain fundamental. The necessity for a social class to possess class consciousness is basic to Marx’ theories. A middle social stratum has been rapidly growing in Brazil since the Second World War. This expansion is due to the growth of industry, urban centers, government bureaucracy, and other factors. Yet, this middle group seems to lack both an awareness of themselves as a group and a unique set of values. To some extent, the middle stratum identifies with the upper class. Clearly, the middle stratum lacks class consciousness. For this reason I refer to this group as the middle sector. The problem is: why does Brazil's middle sector lack class consciousness? The hypothesis I propose in solution to this problem is as follows: Brazil's middle sector is, in a sense, a misfit in the stream of Brazilian history. In more than four centuries of European settlement of Brazil, the society has been characterized by factors contributing to a bi-polar tendency in social stratification. In testing this hypothesis, I will examine three of the areas of factors in terms of the roles they have played in social stratification. Although the list of areas contributing to a bi-polar tendency is long, I have limited myself to the economic factor, the kinship factor, and the racial factor. These three factors will be examined throughout the course of Brazilian history. The economic structure has been largely characterized by large-scale agriculture, feudalism, and slavery. These institutions involve the control of the many by the few. Two contemporary phenomena which polarize Brazilian society have come out of this heritage: paternalistic treatment of employees, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a relatively few. The kinship system has strengthened the bi-polar tendency in several ways. The aristocratic patriarchal family, which dominated Brazil for centuries, served to maintain the position of the upper class, and establish a dependency of the poor on the rich. The upper-class family continues today as a maintainer of the status quo. The institutions of patronship and godparenthood continue today to foster a dependency of poor on rich. Perhaps the most obvious contribution to the bi-polar tendency is seen in the historical role of the racial factor. Slavery existed from the founding of the colony until abolition in 1888. Masters were white and slaves were non-white. The non-white population continues to largely occupy the lower class, and this situation is maintained by often-subtle racial prejudice. To gain an understanding of the growth of the middle sector, a fourth factor must be noted: demographic changes. Recent phenomena are extensive European immigration, and the development of urban centers. The recent nature of these phenomena is linked to the recent growth of the middle sector. Although Brazilian society continues, in many ways, to be bi-polar, the existence of a relatively large middle sector prohibits a perfect bi-polarity in social stratification. The existence of the middle sector may be a misfit in Brazilian history in one sense, but this sector's values do not run counter to the historical flow. However, the middle sector is yet in an early stage of development. A later stage of development may include the formation of a class consciousness. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This study examines upward economic mobility into the planter class in Texas during the antebellum statehood period, 1846-1860. Using quantitative methods to analyze data from census and tax records, this study addresses several questions regarding the property owning experience of Texas planters. Did any of the 1860 planters, men or women, rise to that status from another class? If so, how many rose from small slaveholder or small planter origins, and how many advanced from plain folk origins? In what ways did the amount and nature of wealth of these individuals change in the period studied? In what ways do these findings provide insights into the debate over planter dominance versus ‘plain folk’ inclusive herrenvolk democracy and the relationship between the planters and the other classes? Did the experiences of female planters differ from that of male planters? Did female planter experiences in Texas differ from female planters in other parts of the Old South? The results of these questions demonstrate that economic class mobility into the richest class was significant but limited and that women’s experiences were closely tied to those of male kin.

This study was concerned with the sources of variation in the attitudes of manual workers toward social class and related matters. A review of the literature suggested that, for workers to adopt a perspective that challenges the existing distribution of rewards and privileges in society, they have to be involved in a series of relationships, in work and in the wider community, that create barriers to the influence of the values of dominant groups in society. Evidence from studies in several societies suggests that involvement in predominantly working-class milieux, at work, in the community, and in kinship and friendship networks, leads to the worker adopting a perspective that is "deviant" from the dominant value system. Exposure to the influence ) of people from other classes, on the other hand, 'Would weaken the' barriers and increase the likelihood that the worker would adopt a perspective akin to that of groups higher in the social hierarchy. This study involved the application of the perspective outlined above to differences in the attitudes of manual workers in four Ontario communities. A questionnaire survey was administered in the four committees, which were selected because, in terms of class structure, they differed from each other in ways that were believed to be associated -with differences in working-class attitudes. The indicators of class attitudes examined in this thesis are class identification, choice of models describing the bases of the stratification system, an index of militancy, and support for the New Democratic Party. Residence in a predominantly working-class community was expected to influence the worker to adopt a "deviant" set of attitudes. But community differences in class identification and choice of class models among workers did not follow the expected pattern. Militancy and support for the NDP were found to be related to differences in the class compositions of the conm.mities studied, but, over-all, community differences were not as large as evidence from studies in other societies would lead one to expect. It was argued that the extensive geographical mobility among workers, and the ethnic diversity in three of the comm.mities, attenuated sanewhat the effect that differences in canmunity class stnicture were expected to have on workers' attitudes. Elements in the work situation did, however, show a more substantial relationship with differences in workers' attitudes. Membership in a trade union was found to be the most consistently strong influence on the workers' adoption of "deviant" attitudes. White-collar kinship and friendship affiliations, on the other hand, particularly marriage to a woman who had, at one time or another, been employed in white-collar work, were found to be related to the worker adopting attitudes more similar to those held by people higher in the social hierarchy. It was argued that the barriers to the influence of the dominant culture are nrutua.lly reinforcing, so that removal of one weakens the power of the others. Geographical mobility among workers, combined with ethnic and religious diversity, were seen as weakening even the solidarity ties that might exist in a community predominantly working-class in social composition. And the large number of workers who-were married to women with experience of non-manual work was seen as a further factor weakening the barriers to the influence of the dominant atlture. It was argued that, even though the trade union appears to be the most effective barrier to the dominant culture, the absence of other strung barriers lessens the power the union has to provide a set of alternative definitions of social reality for workers. It was concluded that the weakness of the barriers to the influence of the dominant culture may be suggested as one reason why Ontario workers do not provide the kind of support to the New Detoocratic Party that is provided to parties of the left by workers in other western societies. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Critical criminology has suffered from poor theoretical development. This has resulted not only in confusion with other radical criminologies, but also in distorting the objectives of Marxist inquiry. This thesis examines this confusion via discussions of of class, the state, criminality and the scientific and ideological nature of Marxism. The objective is to demonstrate that a Marxist "critical criminology is both possible and desirable. In order to avoid confusion with other perspectives, and to avoid an overly deterministic analysis, it is argued that critical criminology must recognize the importance of the distinctions between classes-in-themselves, classes-for-themselves and class fractions. Without a full understanding of these concepts it is possible to see the state as either a simple tool of a dominant elite, or an autonomous entity having a life of its own, rather than something created and controlled by human action. Further as a result of an overly simplistic analysis of the state it is possible to view crime as inevitably "revolutionary" rather than as something which may equally be counter to the interests of the working classes. Thus throughout the discussions of class, state and crime it is emphasized that much of critical criminology has left out the dialectics of Marxian analysis. It is the failure to include the dialectic which has led some critics to argue that critical criminology is simply "ideology" or "unscientific." Thus care is taken in the final chapter to specify that Marxism is both ideological and scientific. It is ideological to the extent that it is to act as a political statement of the interests of the working class in the effort at crime control, and it is scientific to the extent that it offers an analysis of the way in which social formations organise their social, political and economic life. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

"The Gun at Kamurgersky" is a collection of short stories.