Male Hegemony, Social Class and Women's Education

Abstract

The ways in which male hegemony in education has and has not been addressed in educational research concerning women and girls in schools are considered. Two bodies of research in the British sociology of education — the cultural tradition and the political economy tradition — are discussed in terms of the ways in which they address the question of gender. The radical theories of social and cultural reproduction of class structure are then considered. It is argued that it is necessary to include a consideration of gender reproduction in any theory of class reproduction, whether the perspective is from a social or a cultural model. A theory of the production of gender differences inside and outside the schools is contrasted with prevailing reproduction theories. The paper concludes with a call for further research in the field of women's education that will both recognize the existence of class and male hegemony in the schools and will at the same time acknowledge that the constant need to reimpose hegemony entails both struggle and the possibility for change.

The (in)visibility of gender knowledge in the Physical Activity and Sport Science degree in Spain

“…Although Bernstein developed his concept of the pedagogic device to explain the reproduction of class relations, Arnot (2002) and Delamont (2014) have argued persuasively that it can be applied equally well to gender. For Arnot (1982), male hegemony operates through the ways in which schools (and universities) transmit a dominant 'gender code' -different definitions of masculinity and femininity, that although open to resistance, nevertheless 'frame' the type and possible responses that can be made to it. Bernstein's concept of pedagogic device, explored further below, explains how particular gender codes are constructed and reproduced.…”

If you drop the soap in the shower you are on your own: Images of male rape in selected prison movies

“…The process of examining these assumptions, whether they are called myths (Kappeler, Blumberg, & Potter, 1996), folk constructions (Sarbin & Kitsuse, 1994) or hegemonic assumptions (Arnot, 1994) is called deconstruction. By working backward one is able to gain insight into the social processes and social structures that produce taken-for-granted assumptions about society.…”

Class, gender, and societal inequalities: A study of Nigerian and Thai undergraduate students

“…And while these ideas are not new, analyses of how an educational system allows some folks to become "more equal" than others have proved difficult and controversial. Critical educational theorists have been concerned with the production and reproduction of class through schooling under capitalism (Althusser 1971, Bowles andGintis 1976), but their works were criticized for failing to deal with patriarchal relationships in schools (Arnot 1982). Later studies such as Willis's Learning to Labor (1977) focused on the concept of resistance, and the idea that individuals were not simply acted upon by abstract institutions.…”