Deviance, Resistance, and Play: A Study in the Communicative Organization of Trouble in Class

A Review of Class-Based Theories of Student Resistance in Education

“…Wang (2008) cites Merton as arguing that the capitalist class structure needs some people “who reject cultural goals so that an under or working class is reproduced” (p. 486). Grahame and Jardine (1990) place Learning to Labor on a “continuum with earlier studies which explained youth subcultures as a response to value consensus within a larger society” (p. 285). Hagan (1997) states that Willis undermines strain theories.…”

Talking like a ‘zerolingual’: Ambiguous linguistic caricatures at an urban secondary school

“…But taken together, the critical load of talking Illegal (in section 5) as well as the more belittling and oppressive effect of it in the previous section may not only illustrate the enduring impact of wider-scale social and linguistic hierarchies; but it may also demonstrate what a number of ethnographers have seen as the unavoidable ambiguity, complexity and contradiction involved in being different from or engaging with the hegemonic ideal, and how this involves both altering and maintaining, protesting as well as accommodating (cf. MacLeod, 1992:535;Erickson, 2004;Grahame and Jardine, 1990;Hirst, 2003;Rampton, 1995Rampton, :67-91, 2006. After all, these students are not completely embracing the ideal social and linguistic destinations held out to themindeed, some of their uses of talking Illegal effectively de-authenticate these prevailing conventions and introduce a shortlived carnivalesque and disordered 'time out' (cf.…”

“…themselves called doing ridiculous, a practice largely comparable to what others have named 'messing about' (Gilroy and Lawrence, 1988:136-137), 'making out' (Foley, 1990) 'working the system' (Goffman, 1961), 'badinage' (Dubberley, 1993), 'having a laugh' (Willis, 1977;Woods, 1976) or 'knowledge-avoidance practices' (Grahame and Jardine, 1990). More in particular, doing ridiculous involved play-acting in class, faking ignorance and enthusiasm or giving confusing or inappropriate answers which sometimes considerably delayed the rhythm and fluent organization of what in their eyes were 'boring' or all too 'serious' situations such as lessons or research interviews.…”

“She Don't Know I Got It. You Ain't Gonna Tell Her, Are You?” Popular Culture as Resistance in American Preschools

“…Opposing traditions, most notably those from a cultural studies framework, suggest that resistance can be seen as student reactions to schools that do not serve their interests (Giroux and Simon ; Willis ). Within these traditions, youth are often conceptualized as tactically oriented individuals who, through resistance to normalized activities, create a subculture in opposition to that of adults and school (Grahame and Jardine ). Resistance is a central theme in cultural studies (Willis ; Hebdige ), yet as Walkerdine suggests, “cultural studies has had almost nothing to say about young children” (1998:255).…”