Introduction to
Special
Populations
Chapter 4
Socio-Economic Influences:
Poverty, Class, Social Status and Learning
What is SES?
• Social class or socioeconomic status
(SES) is the term used to distinguish a
person’s position in society relative to
others within that society.
• Parental occupation, education level,
political power, and income serve as the
basis for a student’s SES.
What are SES effects?
Class distinctions determine:
• the location, safety, comfort, and
convenience of homes and
neighborhoods in which we live;
• the quality of the healthcare and
schooling we receive;
• the worldviews we hold; and
• how we relate to others in society.
Living in Poverty in America
• Could you Survive in Poverty? … in
Middle Class? … in Wealth?
• http://www.povertyusa.org/the-state-ofpoverty/poverty-usa-tour/
Current Conditions
• There are enormous differences in the economic status
and conditions of U.S. residents
• 46.2 (increase by 2.6 million in last year) million U.S.
residents are poor. (2010 statistics)
• One out of every five children live in poverty.
• For a family of 4, this means earning $22,300 or less
• Families holding the top 1 percent of the country's
wealth doubled their share of wealth in the last 30
years.
• Nearly every Dallas neighborhood high school in 2009,
less than 20% of students prepared for college:
Adamson, Thomas Jefferson, Kimball, Pinkston,
Roosevelt, Samuell, A Maceo Smith, South Oak Cliff,
Spruce
School Outcomes and SES
•
•
•
•
Fewer resources in low SES neighborhoods
Students less-prepared when entering school
Teachers often less-prepared and lower paid
Few of students plan to attend college – lower
expectations, self-fulfilling prophecy of failure
Tracking – different expectations and academic
tracks
• Lack of parental support – less reading and more
television watching at home
• Lower educational levels of parents
Poverty
•
•
•
•
•
Young, low education parents, single
Unemployment
Substance abuse
Dangerous neighborhoods
Homelessness – mobility, irregular
school attendance
Two Types of Poverty
• Generational
– Having been in poverty for at least two
generations
– Prevailing attitude – Society owes them a living
• Situational
– A lack of resources attributable to a particular
event (death, chronic illness, divorce, etc.)
– Prevailing attitude - One of pride and refusal to
accept charity
Ruby Payne &
Generational Poverty
• Poverty is relative and occurs among people of
all ethnic backgrounds.
• Economic class is a continuous line, not a clearcut distinction.
• Generational poverty and situation poverty are
different.
• Hidden rules of generational poverty cause
students to react in ways seen as inappropriate
for those with middle-class values.
• Schools and businesses operate from middleclass norms and use the hidden rules of middle
class
Resources that influence achievement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Financial
Emotional
Mental
Spiritual
Physical
Support Systems
Role Models
Knowledge of Hidden Rules
Hidden Rules: Driving Forces
(see handout)
• Poverty
– Survival
– Relationships
– Entertainment
• Middle Class
– Work, achievement
• Wealth
– Connections – financial, political, social
Hidden Rules: Time
• Poverty
– Present most important
– Decisions made for the moment/surviving
• Middle Class
– Future most important
– Decisions made against future remifications
• Wealth
– Traditions and history most important
– Decisions partially on tradition/decorum
Hidden Rules: Power
• Poverty
– Linked to personal respect, ability to fight
– Can’t stop bad things from happening
• Middle Class
– Power/respect separated
– Power in information and institutions
• Wealth
– Power in expertise, connections
– Influences policy and direction
Are all people in poverty un-employed?
The Working Class
– The social group consisting of
people
who are employed for wages
– Especially in manual or industrial work
– Many do not make a living wage (Dallas - $12.81/hr)
VICIOUS CYCLE OF
OPPRESSION
Born into/
fall
into/remain
in poverty
Deficient
Education/Lack
of Opportunities
School
Budgets/Defi
cient
Classrooms
Housing
Neighborhoods
Basic Needs
Not Being
Met
Programs Helping Families in Poverty
• Open Table
– http://theopentable.org/
• McKinney Housing Authority
– http://www.mckinneyha.org/home.html
• Ruby Payne Bridges Out of Poverty
– http://www.bridgesoutofpoverty.com/
• When Helping Hurts
– http://www.chalmers.org/involved/globalmovement
• Samaritan Inn
http://www.thesamaritaninn.org/
For Reflection and Discussion
1. From which rules of class do you typically operate?
• 2. What school practices have a hidden social-class
bias (for example, senior proms; class trips to
Washington, DC; school assignments about “What I did
on my summer vacation;” and so on)?
• 3. How do you feel about this statement? “Students
from generational poverty need direct teaching to build
cognitive structures necessary for learning. The hidden
rules must be taught so they can choose the
appropriate responses if they desire to succeed
academically.”