more likely to work at higher-paid jobs, and more likely to find themselves in
positions of power and privilege.
Perception is everything
Why is it that removing the most obvious obstacles to working-class
participation in third-level education hasn’t resulted in a greater impact on the
numbers of working-class students attending university?
The most obvious answer is a serious lack of resources and lowered
expectations for working-class students at primary and secondary level both at
home and at school
The solution to differential resources is clear; whether resources to schools
that serve lower socio-economic communities are increased is a matter of taxing,
spending, and ideological preference. Successive right-wing governments haven’t
shown much real appetite for narrowing the gap between the top and the bottom.
Differential expectations may prove even more intractable and for a much
longer time. Two classic studies illustrate why that is so.
The power of labels
A study by John Darley and Paget Gross (‘A Hypothesis-Confirming Bias in
Labeling Effects’) examined social perceptions of the relative intelligence of high- and
low-economic groupings. Researchers showed two groups of participants video
recordings of a young fourth-class girl, Hannah, in the area where she lived, in a
playground, and at her school.
Participants were given an evaluation form to complete,
grading Hannah on a scale from pre-school to the sixth-grade.
Importantly, they were given a box to tick for ‘insufficient
information’ if they felt they couldn’t judge.
In one group, participants saw Hannah living, playing, and attending school in a
working-class neighbourhood. They were told that both of her parents were blue-
collar workers with a secondary-school education; her father was employed as a
meat packer; her mother was a seamstress who worked at home.
The other group saw Hannah living, playing, and attending school in an affluent
suburb. The participants were told that both her parents were college graduates: her
father a solicitor, her mother a free-lance writer.
Immediately after viewing one or the other of these two background videos,
participants were given an evaluation form to complete, grading Hannah on reading,
mathematics, and liberal arts on a scale from pre-school to sixth class. Importantly,
they were given a box to tick for ‘insufficient information’ if they felt they couldn’t
judge.