Archer - Girls' identity and education

Symbolic Capital

Status, recognition and sense of worth we obtain from others

WC feminine identities - hyper-heterosexual identity, having a boyfriend and being loud - gains symbolic capital

This brought conflict with the school, preventing them from gaining educational and economic capital

Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities

Girls spend a lot of time and effort to become "desirable"

Spen extra money to avoid being ridiculed for not wearing the "correct" brand

This caused conflict with the school as they would get in trouble for wearing too much jewellery and make up

The girls then become negatively labelled - Bourdieu describes this as Symbolic Violence

Boyfriends

Being Loud

Bring symbolic capital

Girls lost interest in studying "masculine" subjects and gaining a professional career

Instead girls chose to "settle down" and gain WC feminine jobs such as child care

Feminine identities led them to be outspoken, independent and assertive

Teachers interpret this as aggressive

Loud girls are far from the ideal pupil

WC Girl's Dilemma

Symbolic capital and Educational capital are mutally exclusive - you can only have one

Girls overcome this by labelling themselves as "good underneath" as an attempt to maintain self-worth

WC investement in their feminine identities are a major cause of thier underachievement

"Successful" WC Girls

WC Girls who go into HE earned a little extra but not for them for their families

Skegg - caring is crucial so girls would stay home and local to be near family

They are also scared of the amount of debt they accumulate