Sarah Irwin

Locating Where the Action Is Quantitative and Qualitative Lenses on Families, Schooling and Structures of Social Inequality

There has been a proliferation of interest in cultural processes amongst those seeking to explain the role of family life in the reproduction of class-related educational inequalities. Analysts of macro level quantitative and micro level qualitative evidence share an interest in internal family dynamics and resources, yet they generate very different pictures of family level processes, and their articulation with broader structures of social inequality. This article critically explores insights and gaps afforded by the differing perspectives. Since qualitative research is well placed to access salient cultural processes in action and interaction, some proposals are made about enhancing such a programme of research, locating the specificity of evidence, confronting class diversity, and better grounding claims about the nature of social reproduction.

Family contexts, norms and young people's orientations: researching diversity

The paper presents an analysis of young peoples orientations, and expectations for the future, as they relate to family context and socio-economic background. It draws on data from both the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England and from ‘Young Lives and Times’, part of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. The latter study has generated both quantitative and qualitative data, and these are brought together directly in developing the arguments in the paper. The paper explores young peoples perceptions of family life, and offers new evidence and analysis of the value they place on emotional support. Attitudinal data show that such support is seen as very important to future success alongside more individualistic, meritocratic, criteria. The paper then explores family contexts and youngsters’ orientations to schoolwork, and their expectations for their future education. In respect of the latter, socio-economic background becomes key as a predictor of difference. Through strategically linking qualitative and quantitative data, the paper develops an analysis of individuals’ orientations and expectations as these relate to proximate circumstances. Linking quantitative and qualitative evidence in this way helps provide insights into diverse subjectivities, and how they articulate with diverse, class-varying, normal expectations.