Notes on: Ball, S., Rollock, N., Vincent, C. &
Gillborn, D. (2011) Social mix, schooling
and intersectionality: identity and risk for Black
middle class families, Research Papers in
Education, DOI:10.1080/02671522.2011.641998
Dave Harris
[One of those based on the ESRC project.
Qualitative semistructured interviews and 62
parents who self define as Black Caribbean. Some
had partners outside of their ethnic group and
these were included. Participants were recruited
through announcements on family education
websites, contacts with Black professional
networks and social groups, and snowballing. They
use class classification based on Goldthorpe's
service class and the National Statistics
Socio-economic classification 1 and 2. {and also
some insights from Bourdieu}. The research team
was two men and two women, three White and one
Black, respondents were asked to indicate a
preference. They were sent copies of the interview
transcript; none wanted to make changes although
some elaborated or clarified the responses. Other
variables included age, domestic circumstances,
education and income: most earned between £36k and
£50,000, 49% held a Masters degree. They are
nearly always first-generation middle-class and
have been upwardly mobile, whose parents have had
high aspirations and expectations. They have high
aspirations and expectations for their own
children and education is a key asset
They used a combination of Bourdieu and CRT. They
assume that racism is normal and everyday life and
that its workings can be understood 'through the
possibilities and limitations of various forms of
capital that are available to families and
deployed within particular social fields — like
school' (3). Race is socially constructed and so
is racial difference. There is little on race and
class positioning in Black families with some
exceptions. Their argument is that the Black
middle-class (BMC) operate in similar respects to
their white counterparts, but do so to avoid or
respond to racism]
The usual assumption is that Black children are
working class, but these middle-class ones are
interested in social class mix, including
friendship groups and how this might be linked to
concerns about racism and educational achievement.
Some gender differences are also 'signalled'.
There are complex intersections between race and
class in relation to interactions with schools.
These affect school choice and friendship groups
and some aspects of relation to gender. Social
mix, ethnic and class and sometimes gender is a
significant concern when choosing schools and
choosing where to live, and friendships are
monitored. Parents' own experiences frequently
played a part. The same can be found with WMC
parents, although their own racial identities
invisible. With BMC there is 'a clear recognition
of issues of racism and racial identity' (4).
Social mix is where class and race and gender
intersect and can be a site of tension and tussle.
It involves seeking out others who are like us and
avoiding those not like us, finding people you're
comfortable with. It can also be a 'surrogate
indicator' for white privilege or issues relating
to diversity, antiracism, or factors which help
minority ethnic achievement or not. It involves
social risks and social learning.
A good mix meant ethnic diversity, with no single
predominant ethnic group, lots of kids from
families who place a high value on education
'which is usually related to social class'. Such
mixes could minimise racism, create conducive
learning environments, reinforce positive ethnic
identities, practice tolerance and ways of coping
with ethnic others, avoid bad influences.
Sometimes there are trade-offs, for example with
private schooling where a good social mix
outweighs the perceived benefits. Children's
preferences can be important. [Bits of transcript
follow — one says there was a need to avoid
schools which were 'quite heavily Asian' which was
to be avoided as much as schools which were white]
There is a balance between high achievement and
feeling comfortable and being yourself. There is a
need to avoid bad mixes where one ethnicity
predominates [euphemistic] or there are too many
social class others. Parents talk of a safe zone
in terms of ethnicity, but avoiding being cocooned
as their parents were. The general context is
different now because overt racism is less
acceptable although subtle forms persist.
Increased social diversity in London has helped
although it's not eliminated white privilege or
racism, so schools can be mixed more often
although they can still be a predominant ethnic
group.
Social class is important and a small group of
parents 'explicitly use generalised stereotypes of
the Black working class' (6) relating to low
levels of interest for example. There was often a
feeling of instability, uncertainty that they've
got the balance right, some 'unease about
middle-classness, which was viewed by some as a
White social category'.
So there is strategising and risk-taking as among
the WMC, but there are still clear differences. In
coding, they identified three groups of issues
[they used 'detailed hand coding… Coding
discussions… Using techniques of constant
comparison (Strauss 1987)' (7). The three groups
were: those who privilege the quality of education
over the possibilities of being subject to racism
or socially isolated '(often this led to the
choosing of a private school)'; those who gave a
high value to social mix as a form of social
learning; those who balanced quality and mix
'often by virtue of their place of residence'.
The first set risked sending a child
to schools with lots of white children or lots of
middle and upper middle class students, often with
low levels of race awareness, sometimes with overt
racism or class humiliations. These have to be
accepted and coped with to gain a good education.
Parents themselves often feel out of place. Some
private schools have better mixes than others.
There are some reports of being Black as being
isolated and suffering humiliation, having the
school doing nothing to engage with issues of race
or multiculturalism. In one case a child had
suffered long-term impact and the school had been
unresponsive [this might be the case where a
complaint of racial bullying was 'reversed to make
him the problem' (8) as Gillborn
reports]. The parents was unable to change this
'despite the considerable social and cultural
skills and resources she was able to bring to
bear'. The kid did well in his exams but was still
held back. The episode shows the limits even of
substantial amounts of cultural capital and the
need for Black kids to still remain resilient.
Another kid at private school, a girl, did find
more of a mix but in social class terms even
though visible ethnic minorities were in a
minority. She got more positive attention. One
parent moved their daughter to school with a
greater ethnic mix. One parent moved the other way
and sent her daughter to a private sixth form
college because they were worried about low
expectations in a local comprehensive even if
there was a better mix, a typical 'compromise
between advantage and identity' (10). One parent
was afraid that her daughter would be '"a minority
twice"', a bright Black female student. Another
had a dilemma about whether to send her daughter
to a private sixth form even though she had won a
scholarship — a case of lacking 'class
confidence', a common case of wondering what
children could or could not cope with, whether
they could mix.
WMC have a similar '"mixture of rationalities"',
and doing what's best for your child is not always
obvious, particularly when issues of race and
racism heighten the tension. Some parents are
afraid that too many Black young men, too much
mix, will increase the danger that Black girls
will be exposed to 'classist and racist
stereotypes' (11).
The second set stress social learning and
social development and are willing to risk
comprehensive schooling even if children do not
achieve as highly. They are worried about the
temptations of the lifestyles of the street. Some
see it necessary to operate in diverse
environments. Ethnic mix is the more important
rather than class mix but there is worry about
'"bad influences"' (12) including 'significant
numbers of Black "others"'', especially boys. This
shows that the majority of the sample saw a Black
identity as a positive one, clearly inflected by
class, even though parents and children did not
always agree. Gender is important [the remarks
verge on the racist, worrying about 'boys with all
kinds of strange names' or 'this all Black thing…
I'm a bit worried about sending her into the
wild']. This clearly references working class
Black street culture.
At the same time, there was some ambivalence about
being middle-class, but this was strengthened when
discussing social mixing. This reflects earlier
work on categories within the middle-class, based
on values and the degree of acceptance of
middle-class ideology — the '"middle-class minded"
accept class differences between them and less
privileged Blacks, but the '"multiclass"' maintain
a symbolic and personal connection to low income
Blacks (13). These tensions are played out in
relation to school choice and children's
friendships, and occasional tensions with friends
over school choice. One parent is particularly
torn between middle-classness and commitment to
her ethnicity, 'between solidarity and advantage'
(13), and this risks inauthenticity. This can be
difficult and painful producing social division,
forms of avoidance, potent emotions, and arguments
between Black people.
Another respondent echoes this. She likes Lewisham
with Black people, but wants Black people with
high aspirations and positive notions about
themselves. In order to get academic success she's
thought about moving outside of London and wanted
to encourage relationships with young people with
aspirations, ideally Black ones. People in other
locations find it easier to resolve, like one who
lived in a provincial town [presumably where there
were no Black people]: the parents still wanted
them to attend schools with a better ethnic mix,
but not if it was a low achieving school or one
where there was a stigma about being Black, with a
'"negative spiral of violence and crime"' as it
was in London. This person denies that she is
middle-class as well.
Not all respondents saw race and racism as
significant, some had never experienced racism.
They were more conscious of social diversity
especially if they lived in London and did refer
to ethnicity rather than class. They were more
positive about the value of Black identity.
The third category found local schools
that were good and socially mixed, and were pretty
happy. The discussion at the end refers to the
degree of resilience of children and how they can
cope with being in a minority, 'in-family
differences' (16) which have been found in other
research on WMC families, although White parents
do not have to monitor the experience of their
children for racism or other forms of oppression.
Most of the children had ethnically mixed
friendships the both best and close friends and
others. Children the same family were often
different. Such friendships were viewed positively
by most parents although some felt sad. Some were
suspicious of Whites. There were the same tensions
between class and race. A small number wanted
their children to develop more of a positive sense
of Black identity and to make more Black friends.
Several parents saw friendship patterns as quite
different for their own children as compared to
themselves, and saw they differences in the
context. [Lots of quotes to show the 'extent of
and positive view of socially mixed friendships'
(17)].
There were some complex intersections, involving
social class and also '"having to be a certain way
to be Black"' [which seems to be a reservation
mentioned by a parent about being suitably modest,
not too posh, playing by the rules]. Speech still
seems to be important as a 'marker of class which
also has specific intersections with race'. It can
confound racist stereotypes. They claim to have
detected 'complex Bourdieurian[sic]
distinctions' here, based on 'a network of
antagonistic oppositions', four-way rather than
two-way, 'BMC and WMC, and Black and White working
class'. These are also written onto the bodily
hexis, and some forms are '"racially
unpalatable"'. As a result, some children 'inhabit
"intersectional bodies"' (18). So they don't speak
posh. They might use teapots rather than mugs,
they are worried about 'bad boys' and 'street
cred'. Back to Bourdieu and forms of class and
race recognition within respectability, which
seems to be important for the BMC as well who are
worried that their children choose the right sort
of friends, worried on ethnic as well as class
grounds.
Overall, social mix is a field of contestation
involving identity and community, class and
ethnicity. There are 'distinct patterns of
strategising' over school choice, balancing low
expectations against social isolation and hoping
for social mixes. The notion of a respectable
Blackness as opposed to stereotypical Blackness
informs the strategies. Gender is also important.
There may be similar struggles in the USA.
Intersectionality is clearly 'an effective
methodology' (21) and intersections are both
structured and structural, and 'an unstable
ensemble of possibilities for identity… More or
less realisable, imposed, opportune or
strategically useful'. The context has changed.
BMC might be more reflexive about the
possibilities compared to WMC, possibly due to the
ever present possibility of racism and the
liminality that they occupy.
[A couple of pieces by Rollock, deemed as
forthcoming in this piece look interesting:
intersectional reflections on the liminal space of
alterity: or how investment in being nice
threatens the racial Justice project. Race,
ethnicity and education and one with Vincent
Gillborn and Ball. Middle-class by profession:
class status and identification amongst the Black
middle classes in ethnicities, and another one in
Sociology — I might have these]
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