TOR2002/38
Growing up in a symbolic society : The difference
between ‘Spirou’ and ‘Tintin’.
Gender and educational tracking in the social and
cultural practices of young people in Flanders.
FRANK STEVENS
Free University of Brussels
Department of Sociology
Research group TOR
Pleinlaan 2
1050 Brussels
Policy Research Centre for
‘Recreational Flanders’
Korte Meer 3
9000 Gent
frank.stevens@vub.ac.be
www.vub.ac.be/TOR/
Paper presented at the Xth SWS-dagen, Amsterdam 30th-31th May 2002 and
at the XV World Congress of Sociology, Brisbane – Australia July 7 – 13
2002
This text has been realised with support of the Flemish Community and the
Program for Policy Research Centres. In this text, only the opinion of the author
is expressed, not that of the Gouvernment of The Flemish Community. The
Flemish Community can not be held responsible for the use of the presented
data.
Abstract
Since the early eighties, the relationship between youngsters and the labour
market has fundamentally changed in Belgium. High levels of youth
unemployment and government budget cuts led to a policy to postpone the
introduction of young people onto the labour market. The most significant
policy measure was the extension of compulsory education until 18. Recent
research shows that political views and cultural practices of young people are
predominantly structured along their tracks of secondary education (general
versus vocational education) and gender. At the same time there is an
important association between social background and educational tracking.
This paper deals with this structuring of the social and cultural practices of
young people along educational cleavages. It’s based on a survey among 13.000
secondary school students (16 to 18 years old) in the Flemish part of Belgium
and investigates the differences in musical tastes, the usages of media (old and
new), shopping behaviour, social participation, social networks, political views
(democratic citizinship) and views of friendship.
1
Introduction
One of the core issues in youth research these days is the question whether
youth culture is still socially embedded. One view, popular among social
scientist as well as in daily life, states that taste, culture or lifestyle are a
matter of personal preference. According to this view, social background - or
social structures in general - is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Identities
are said to become more fragmented as a result of processes like
detraditionalisation and individualisation (Cieslik 2001). The disappearance
of traditional contraints results in an active and reflexive individual.
Individuals construct their own, highly original lifestyle by combining
different elements from an enlarging number of cultural goods. Collective
forms of identity formation within the rigid lines of locality, social class or
gender have become archaic (Beck 1992). Individuals are the architects of
their own lives (Laermans 1994), freed from traditional restrictions typical
for their own gender, social class, religion, locality or ethnicity. The
implication of this vision is that collective identities are less relevant in daily
life.
In youth research this vision has been embraced by scholars doing empirical
research in club cultures. According to this vison the traditional paradigm of
subculture is becoming an increasinly unworkable concept. Subculture,
defined as a more or less coherent code of dress, musical taste, behaviour
and hairstyle, is an obsolete concept. Modern dance cultural music like
[2]
house and techno do not impose clear cut demands on what to wear, on
how to behave or on how to dress your hair. The mixture of different musical
styles, the lack of a clear dresscode or a particular hairstyle are interpreted
as the loss of a coherent subcultural code. Furthermore, these authors
contest the assertion that subculture is always an expression of resistance
towards an omnipresent capitalistic system. In modern club cultures
though, social criticism is not really a key issue. The traditional notion of
‘subculture’ therefore does not any longer reflect the social and cultural
realities of young people. In addition, the use of the term in daily life and in
the media has made it a catch-all term (Bennett 1999), unsuited to grasp
the sophistication and diversity of contemporary youth cultures. Instead,
these authors argue for a more fluid and temporal approach towards
cultural practices and prefer terms like post-subcultures (Muggleton 1997;
Muggleton 2000) or neo-tribes (Bennett 1999).
Some authors have expressed doubts over this portrayal of modern life. In
Dutch and Flemish sociological research into individualisation, the paradox
of individualisation is a recurrent conclusion. This paradox shows that
individuals do have more opportunities to “write their own script”. At the
same time though, people keep on making very traditional choices in their
lifes. Old conventions still survive and collective processes of identification
still influence the choices of individuals. This aspect has been illustrated for
transitions in life (Corijn 1993; Liefbroer & de Jong Gierveld 1993), values
(Elchardus 1999b) and even cultural preferences and tastes (Stevens
2001a). One can also doubt the claim that there are no longer coherent
codes for dress, music or behaviour in current youth cultures. One can
understand the criticism of club culture theorist that subculture is not an
accurate concept to describe their research subject. Even their critiscism
that cultural practices does not necessarily mean a resistance towards
capitalism, makes sense. And they are also right when they state that
contemporary youth culture is dominated by musical styles like house and
techno. At least this is the case in Flanders (Stevens 2001a). It would be
wrong though to limit current youth culture to club culture alone. In the
90’s, very distinctive and recognisable styles like the straight edge life style
emerged next to the more eclectic dance musical styles. And as ‘gabber’
illustrates, even in modern dance culture there are styles with a very
coherent code for dress, hairstyle, behaviour, dancing and musical taste.
‘Gabber’ is a youth culture originating in the Netherlands around the early
90’s. Typical for this culture are an “Australian”-brand tracksuit, a “Chipie”
blue jeans, a Lonsdale jumper, a black bomberjacket and Nike Air Max
trackshoes), a distinctive hairstyle (bald heads or so-called ‘blockheads’ –
bald on the side and short, straight trimmed hair on the crane) and a
specific dancestyle that is called ‘hakkûh’ (commonly, the term is translated
into chopping). Gabber music is very fast and very loud techno music and is
called ‘hardcore’. In the 90’s the beat of the music slowly increased from 120
to 220 beats per minute (Verhagen et al. 2000). In 1997 gabber was the
most popular music amongst Dutch youngsters (Ter Bogt & Hibbel 2000).
[3]
Next to the individualisation thesis, one can speak of a second approach to
cultural practices. This approach claims that these practices cannot be
studied without regard to social structures. Especially gender and social
class are still important factors in the formation of taste. The
correspondance between gender and social position on the one side and
taste on the other, is explained in terms of differential processes of
socialisation. Boys and girls are brought up differently, which results in
different tastes and lifestyles. People of different social backgrounds undergo
different processes of socialisation. This results in different outlooks on the
world and different class tastes (Bourdieu & De Saint Martin 1976). Young
people take up these differences in taste and incorporate them in their own
culture.
One aspect that has been neglected in recent years whithin youth cultural
theory is education (Stevens 2001b). Although theorists like Talcott Parsons
and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies stress the importance of
the emergence of the education sytem as an institutional environment for
the development of an autonomous youth culture, education has mostly
disappeared from youth cultural theory. Nonetheless, research into taste
formation stresses the importance of education. Especially in the work of
the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, education plays an important role.
According to this author, the education system reproduces to a large extent
existing social inequalities. One of the key issues in Bourdieus work is
therefore the importance of an emergent education system in the cultural
preferences of the individual (Tillekens 1993). Also Pierre Rosanvallon
(1995), another French publicist, is convinced of the rising importance of
education in the lifes of individuals. In his work La Nouvelle Question
Sociale, this author states that level of education increasingly determines
chances in life. In traditional societies, family ties determined opportunities
(Elchardus 1999a; Peterson 1997), while in industrial societies
opportunities are determined by position in the production process. The
“new social question” refers to the fact that one’s social position is
increasingly determined by one’s symbolic capacity. The generation and
contribution to knowledge, symbolic content and meaning are central in
current society. In this respect some authors speak of the emergence of a
symbolic society (Elchardus 2000; Stevens & Elchardus 2001). Increasing
numbers of people are employed in sectors such as ICT, media, education,
marketing, advertising, social, cultural and other sectors involved in the
generation of meanings. The current economic system is determined by the
production of symbolic goods such as new services, new needs, new trends
and new subtle status distinctions. Also our daily life is surrounded and
entrenched with symbols. The symbolic society invades our lives every time
we listen to the radio, watch tv, walk in the streets and see advertising
billboards. In this kind of society, people are instructed, educated and
formed so that they can participate in the creation of symbolic meanings.
The level of education forms a sort of passport into this society as it refers to
the symbolic capacity of an individual.
[4]
In this paper we want to investigate whether social and cultural practices of
young people are socially structured. We want to investigate whether there
are important differences in cultural preferences, values and social networks
between boys and girls, young people in different tracks of the Belgian
education system. The central thesis of this paper is that education can be
interpreted as an important factor in the structuralisation of young people’s
daily lifes in Belgium. Even during secondary education, while young people
are still completing their formation, one can already observe differences in
social and cultural practices. These differences cannot be separated from
the transformation of Belgian society towards a symbolic society.
In a first part of this paper, we try to portray the cultural and social
practices of young people in general. In a second part, we try to give a
description of the complex education system in Flanders and the main
trends of its evolution in the last 50 years. Special attention will be drawn to
the important association between social background and the specific track
one is guided into during secondary education. In the last part of this paper
we investigate whether there is still a certain structuralisation of social and
cultural practices of young people.
2
Data
The data for this article are collected during the school year 1999-2000 by
the TOR-research group of the Free University of Brussels. The research had
two goals: to get a picture of the participation opportunities in secondary
education in Flanders and the Dutch speaking education system of the
Brussels Capital Region and to get a picture of how young people in
Flanders perceive their daily life. Commissioner of the research was the
Department of Education of the Flemish Community. In order to be able to
give an answer to central questions, a sample was drawn from the school
database of the Department of Education. This sample was proportionally
stratified according to school board (community education, subsidised
privately run schools of catholic origin and subsidised publicly run schools),
location (the five Flemish provinces) and the combination of tracks a school
offers. For this last aspect, we made a partition in three groups. The first
type of schools only offer general secundary education (ASO). They represent
26.1% of the schools in Flanders and Brussels. The second group of schools
offer professional secundary education as well as vocational secundary
education. This is the case in one third (33.5%) of the schools in Flanders
and Brussels. The third group (40.4% of the schools), wich is a very diverse
group, consists of schools offering all possible other combinations of
education tracks. This group encompasses amongst others, all schools
offering secondary art education. The most important subgroup within this
[5]
group though are schools offering a combination of general, professional and
vocational secondary education.
In total 89 schools all over Flanders and Brussels were included in the
research design. In every school all the pupils of the fourth and sixth grade
of secondary education were interviewed. This resulted in a sample of 13598
pupils, mainly between the ages of 16 and 18 (De Groof et al. 2001; Stevens
& Elchardus 2001).
3
The cultural practices of young people in Flanders
Culture itself is a very broad concept. This is reflected in the diverse ways
the concept is operationalised. An additional problem is that most studies in
youth culture are qualititative research designs (Hall 1997). Scholars use indepth interviews or participatory observations to study very distinctive
subcultures. One of the main criticisms towards this approach is the
confinement of youth culture to very eye-catching and publicly visual
subcultures (Janssen & Prins 1991; McRobbie & Garber 1976; Ter Bogt &
Hibbel 2000). Especially the practices of young people diverging from the
conventional cultural patterns are studied, ignoring the cultural practices of
the majority of teenagers (Ter Bogt & Hibbel 2000).
Quantitive research into cultural practices of adults and young people tend
to restrict culture to more legitimate forms of cultural participation like
going to theatre, visiting a museum, reading a book, favorite leisure
activities or listening to classical music (Katz-Gerro 1999) (Goedseels et al.
2000; Kaesemans 2001) (DiMaggio 1982; Lamb 1989). Time budget data
show though that young people do not spend a lot of time on these
legitimate cultural practices (Stevens & Elchardus 2001). Consumption of
media, music, films and shopping for clothes are more relevant for their
cultural experiences.
Following the example of mostly Dutch sociological research in the 80’s and
90’s (Elchardus et al. 1996; Sikkema 1987; Tillekens 1993; Van Wel 1993;
Van Wel & Van der Gouwe 1990), we investigate the cultural preferences
and practices by asking young people to asess 30 musical styles, 17
different kinds of television programs, 9 different television stations (the six
general Flemish tv-stations and regional television, MTV and the Flemish
music television TMF), 8 national radio broadcasting stations and 15 film
genres. The pupils could express their appreciation or depreciation for these
elements by giving them a score between 0 and 10. If an element was
unknown to them, they scored it ‘11’. We also asked them what their
favorite magazine is (they had to choose one from a list of 11 possible types
of magazines), how many times they used 7 types of new media (using a 7-
[6]
point scale of frequency) and how many times they bought their clothes or
shoes in 11 different types of shops (5-point scale).
We looked for patterns in preferences over the different cultural domains
using exploratory factor analysis. These analysis showed that there are no
clear patterns between the use of new media and shopping behaviour on the
one side and the other cultural domains on the other. The factor analysis in
the preferences in magazines, televison and radio stations, television
programs, films and musical styles resulted in five cultural dimensions (see
appendix A). We use oblique rotation because we assume that the different
dimensions are not uncorrelated from each other and because cultural
elements can be approached from different discursive formations (Hall
1997).
The first cultural orientation is determined by a preference for instructive
televison programs (like newscasts, current affairs, talkshows, …) and
information magazines. Youngsters associate these programs with the
public tv broadcasting system and regional televisions, less with the
privately owned, commercial television stations. Also the public
broadcasting radio stations, offering national and regional news and
information programs, are closely linked to this orientation. Musically,
styles like classical music, folk, world music, French chansons, jazz, blues,
cabaret but also the publicly owned classical radio station belong to this
orientation. These youngsters also prefer political films and films with a cult
status. This orientation is called cultural correctness because the
underlying criterion to evaluate something as good or beautifull seems te be
an inherent ‘quality’ or ‘information’ (Frith 1990; Van Eijck 2001).
The second orientation revolves around fun and pleasure. Something is
beautiful because it provides diversion and entertainment. Closley linked to
this dimension are entertaining television programs like game shows, quiz
shows, dating programs, soaps, drama productions, but also romantic movie
pictures. Amusement is apparently more a characteristic of the privately
owned television station and radio broadcasts, including the two music
television stations, MTV and TMF. The only exemption is Radio Donna, a
publicly owned radio station advertising with the slogan ‘The Fun. The Hits’.
Musical styles closely connected with this orientation are chart music,
disco, house and ‘tien om te zien’-music1.
A third orientation is dominated by films and television programs centred
around traditional scripts. Associations with masculinity, aggression,
competitiveness, emotional detachment and an orientation towards sexual
1
Tien om te zien, which translates into ‘ten to be seen’, was a popular
music program on the Flemish commercial television, promoting popular
music of mostly Flemish singers or bands. It is a mixture of Flemish
sentimental songs, evergreens and showbizz music. The program caused
a surge in the sales of domestic products since 1989 onward (De Meyer
1996).
[7]
domination (Lapp 1999; Nixon 1997) are commonly made in this dimension.
Following Van Wel and Van der Gouwe (1993) we call this orientation a
macho or virile orientation. Film styles like action movies, crime films,
science fiction films, adventure films, thrillers, horror movies, but also erotic
movies load high on this dimension. Further, we can also find sport
programs, sport shows and reality tv on this dimension. Techno, gabber and
house, are correlated to this factor.
The fourth dimension comprises of musical styles like R&B, funk, reggae,
ska, rap, raï, worldmusic and folk. But also ‘music with a certain history’
like French chansons, sixties and seventies music are part of this
dimension. Once again, pupils tend to associate these musical styles with
MTV and TMF. Because of the dominance of historically rooted musical
styles and musical styles with Afro-American roots, we simply call this
dimension a roots dimension. A similar dimension is often found in
American research (Christenson & Roberts 1998). Although music is the
dominant factor on this dimension, it can not be reduced to music alone.
Romantic films, but also more ‘difficult’ films like psychological movies and
films with a social theme constitute this taste orientation.
The last dimension consists of ‘though’ and ‘hard’ rock music like heavy
metal, hardcore, hard rock, grunge, alternative guitar music, punk and new
wave. This ressembles the playlist of the publicly owned radio station
‘Studio Brussel’. This radio station mainly targets a younger audience. It is
obvious to call this dimension the rock dimension. This dimension does not
only consist of these cultural elements. There is a certain overlap with the
roots dimension because, once again, we meet styles like sixties and
seventies music, but even jazz and blues have affinities with this dimension.
Not only tastes were examined, but also the way youngsters perceive their
immediate environment, their school and society, were used to research the
cultural practices of youngsters. We examined the perception of their
immediate environment by asking them questions about self-image, selfconfidence, perception of the future, relationships with mother and father
and relations with friends. For this last aspect, we constructed a new
instrument based on observations made in the qualitative part of the
research project to explore what friendship means to youngsters (Laermans
et al. 2001). This instrument revealed two notions of friendship amongst
young people (Stevens & Elchardus 2001). The first definition sees
friendship in term of self-disclosure and trust. You can share your inner
feelings with your friends, without fearing that those intimacies will be told
to others in idle gossip. The second notion defines friendship in terms of
conformity, in terms of shared interests. Friends are those people who have
the same interests in leisure activities, have the same sense of humour, like
the same kinds of music or clothes.
School experience is examined by six measurement instruments: the
informal class climate, the informal school climate, school alienation, the
[8]
evaluation of the members and functioning of the student council, and
finally, well-being at school (De Groof & Siongers 2001). The informal class
and school climate examines the pupil-related character of the class and the
school respectively. School alienation examines to what extent pupils feel
that their own views do not matter, and that they have no influence on what
happens in school. As the name suggests, the two instruments related to
the student council examine the pupil’s views of the members and the
functioning of the student council. Finally, there is well-being at school or
the extent to which pupils like to go to school, feel at home there, etc. These
six indicators are very closely interrelated. In other words, pupils like to go
to school (and do not feel alienated) when they experience an open and pupil
oriented class and school climate, and when they evaluate the student
council in a positive way.
Finally, we used democratic attitudes towards citizenship as an estimate of
their social values. Therefor we used instruments measuring utilitarian
individualism, ethnocentrism, antidemocratic feelings and preference for a
tough stance on crime. Recent political research shows that these values are
currently the most significant cultural determinants of the voting behaviour
in Flanders (Billiet et al. 2001; Elchardus 1994; Elchardus & Pelleriaux
1998).
4
The social practices of young people in Flanders
Concerning the social practices of young people, we asked them questions
about membership of the student council. 23,3% of the pupils were or have
previously been a member of the student council. Furthermore, we inquired
about their participation in six types of extracurricular activities: social
activities (e.g. homework classes for immigrants, help with the elderly, third
world projects), cultural activities (e.g. music, drama, film), technical
activities (e.g. making websites, technical workshops like bike and motor
workshops, computer lessons), sports (e.g. football, dance), economic
activities (e.g. mini-enterprise, business games) and leisure activities (e.g.
parties). Additionally, we asked them about their participation in 14 types of
associations. They had to indicate whether they were no member at all, a
passive member (someone who pays the membership fees, but does not
participate in the activities), an active member (someone who participates at
least once in the last year in an activity of the organisation) or a board
member (someone who is involved in the organisation of the activities of the
association).
A non-linear principal component analysis (princals) revealed distinct
patterns in the social participation of young people. Firstly, participation in
types of extracurricular activities are strongly intertwined. Young people
participating in one type of extracurricular activity, tend to participate in
[9]
other types as well. In the sample, 80.9% participate in at least one
extracurricular activity. A second kind of organisations are social
organisations: voluntary
associations, political parties, antiracist
organisations, environmental organisations, human rights organisations,
peace organisations, cultural organisations, third world organisations and
neighbourhood associations. 34.5% of the pupils participate in at least one
of these organisations. A third kind of organisation, leisure organisations,
comprises of hobby clubs and sport clubs. These organisations reach 54.3%
of the pupils in the sample. And finally, a fourth type of formal social
participation comprises of participation in youth clubs, youth work and
youth movements. 40.1% of the pupils is a member of at least one youth
organisation.
Aside from their formal social participation, we were also interested in their
informal social networks. Herefore we questioned them about the number of
friends they have, where they meet their friends (in class, in school, outside
of school), whether they have a steady girl friend or boy friend and how
popular they consider themselves. Once again, a non-linear principal
component analysis revealed a clear structure in this informal network: the
endogeneity of friendship. On the one side of this dimension, there are
pupils with a small number of friends, who restrict their friendships to one
environment (classroom, school or outside of school), who haven’t got a
steady boy friend or girl friend and who consider themselves impopular.
Otherwise, there are pupils who have a lot of friends, who have friends in
several environments, have had a steady boy friend or girl friend for at least
one year and who consider themselves very popular.
5
The school system in Flanders
In 1983 the Belgian government decided to extend compulsory education
until 18 years. Prior to this new law, compulsory education was limited to
16 years. The official government discours stated that this measure aimed to
improve the resilience of young people by preventing early school drop out
(Derks & Vermeersch 2001). For those pupils tired of school, a system of
part-time education and part-time work (DBSO) was introduced.
Unofficially, the law has been interpreted on the one hand as a measure to
combat the high levels of youth unemployment of the early eighties and as a
budget cut on the other hand (Bouverne-De Bie & Coussée 2001).
The decision though was a formalisation of an ongoing trend towards longer
schooling (Derks & Vermeersch 2001). Like most Western countries,
Belgium knew an exponential expansion of its school system in the period
1950 to 1975. The participation in higher secundary education in this
period increased spectacularly. In 1956 only 32% of the 16- to 18- year olds
participated in higher secondary education. In 1982 this number was 82%
(Claes et al. 1984; Derks & Vermeersch 2001; Pelleriaux 2001). Also higher
education (polytechnics and universities) knew an important increase with
students. In 1956 only 14% of the age group between 18 and 22 studied full
[10]
time, this percentage augmented to 38% in 1982. This represents an
increase of 271% (Pelleriaux 2001). After 1975, this increase continued, but
at a slower rate. This extra growth can be completely contributed to the
increase in participation in higher education by girls. As a matter of fact, in
1998 the number of female students in polytechnics and universities
exceeded the number of male students for the first time in Belgian history
(Pelleriaux 2001).
At the same time, the education system did not only expand, it transformed
as well. The most remarkable change was the differentiation into different
tracks. In the 1950’s the foundations for the current education system were
laid by the integration of professional and vocational education in the official
school system. Before the 1950’s professional and vocational education,
aimed at the instruction of skilled labourers, didn’t ressort under the
Ministry of Education, but was controlled by the Ministry of Economics
(Pelleriaux 2001). At the same time, general education, that prepared young
people for higher education, also knew a differentiaton. Apart from
traditional subjects Greek-Latin and Latin, the introduction of new study
disciplines like science, maths and modern languages promoted
participation of young people from middle class backgrounds in general
education. The integration of the different tracks in one broad and
diversified education system, made it possible that in 30 years time the
Belgian education system transformed from an elitist into a massified
system (Pelleriaux 2001). The extension of compulsory education can be
seen as just another stage in this evolution.
The education system in Belgium got even more complicated since the
devolution of the unitary state Belgium into a federal state. Since 1988,
education is no longer a federal matter, but a community competence. Every
language group (Dutch, French and German speaking) is responsible for its
own school system. The Department of Education of the Flemish community
is the entitled authority for the education system in Flanders and the Dutch
speaking education system in the Brussels Capital Region. Concerning
education, the federal government is only authorized with regards to the
pensions of members of staff, determining the minimum conditions for
gaining a certificate and establishing compulsory education.
Today, secondary education in Flanders is divided into three grades, lasting
two years each. In the first grade there is a minimum of tracking. All pupils
follow a core curriculum. This core curriculum is known as the A-stream.
Next to this core curriculum, there is a second track, preparing for
vocational education (the so called B-stream). From the second grade (14 or
15 years), there are four distinct types or tracks of education pupils can
choose:
1. General secondary education (ASO). The emphasis is on a broad general
education which provides the basis for higher education.
[11]
2. Professional secondary education (TSO), which focuses on general and
technical theoretical subjects. After TSO, young people can enter
employment or go on to higher education.
3. Art secondary education (KSO): a general education is combined with
active education in the arts. After KSO, young people can enter
employment or higher education.
4. Vocational secondary education (BSO): this is a practical type of
education which involves teaching a specific job, as well as providing a
certain level of general education.
From the third grade on (16-17 years), pupils can opt for a training in parttime vocational secondary education (DBSO). In this track, two days of
education are combined with three days of employment. In the school year
2000-2001 5.961 pupils were enrolled in this type of education, making up
1,4% of the total secondary school population of Flanders (Department of
Education 2002).
A pupil receives a certificate of secondary education when he/she has
successfully completed six years of ASO, TSO or KSO, or seven years of
BSO. With a certificate of secondary education, every young person has
unlimited access to higher education, irrespective of what school, type of
education or course this certificate comes from (De Groof & Siongers 2001).
The school population is further divided into classes. The average class size
in the Flemish secondary education system for a subject matter like math is
19 pupils (TIMSS 1999). In most schools, even in schools with different
educational tracks, classes comprise of pupils following similar subject
matters2. In reality, this means that classes are divided along educational
tracks. Even for courses that do not ask for a differentiation of pupils along
academic skills, like sports, art education, religious instruction or moral
philosophy, pupils of different educational tracks are not mixed. As a
consequence, pupils from different educational tracks almost never take
lessons together. Sometimes this seggregation takes on physical forms. A
school can be made up of different buildings or school grounds, scattered
over a city or town. Some schools reserve specific locations for particular
educational tracks. In other schools recreational facilities are split up by
educational track, sometimes resulting in seperate school facilities. In these
cases, pupils of the same school, but following courses in different buildings
or in different campuses, never have contact with each other. But even in
schools where pupils share the same facilities, one can often observe a
spontaneous seggregation of pupils on the playground along educational
tracks (Laermans et al. 2001).
2
In 1999-2000, 69% of the Flemish schools offered a combination of different
educational tracks.
[12]
6
Education and social background
In spite of the massification and democratisation of the education system
over the last five decades, there is still an important association between
social background and the track of a pupil. Social background is still
important in the choice for a particular socialisation path in the education
system (De Groof et al. 2001; Elchardus 1999b; Elchardus et al. 1998;
Pelleriaux 2001; Tan 1998). Also in the current data, there are notable
selection effects between the occupation of the father and the education
level of the parents on the one side and the specific track of the pupil on the
other.
TABLE 1:
ASSOCIATION
BETWEEN OCCUPATION OF FATHER AND TRACK OF SON OR DAUGHTER
(COLUMNPERCENTAGE)
ASO/KSO
BSO
TSO
Totaal
Father
unemployed or in
blue collar job
23,3%
38,5%
38,3%
4662
CHI²=15045, DF
Father white collar
job or independent
profession
49,0%
16,4%
34,6%
5590
Father managerial job,
enterpreneur or liberal
profession
63,0%
12,1%
24,8%
2773
Total
42,8%
23,4%
33,8%
13025
= 4, P= .00000; SOMER’S D = -.212, P=.000; GAMMA = -.319, P = .000,
SPEARMAN CORRELATION
= -.238, P = .000
43% of the pupils in the sample are in general or secondary arts education.
This percentage decreases to 23% procent amongst youngsters with
working class backgrounds. The higher classes on the other hand are
overrepresented in general and secondary arts education. In vocational
secondary education, we find exactly the opposite. Here, working class
youngsters are overrepresented while only 12% of the young people
stemming from the high classes are enrolled in vocational secondary
education.
TABLE 2:
ASSOCIATION
BETWEEN EDUCATION LEVEL PARENTS AND TRACK OF SON OR DAUGHTER
(COLUMNPERCENTAGE)
ASO/KSO
BSO
TSO
Totaal
Both parents no higher
education (polytechnic or
university)
26,6%
33,1%
40,3%
6850
CHI²=2020, DF
At least one of the parents
higher education
Total
64,5
8,9%
26,6%
5774
43,9%
22,0%
34,0%
12624
= 2, P= .00000; SOMERS’
SPEARMAN CORRELATION
D
= 284, P= .0000;
GAMMA
= -.472, P=.000;
= -.303, P=.000
The association between the education level of the parents and the track of
the pupils is perhaps even stronger. Only 9% of the families in which at
least one of the parents have a degree of higher education, send their sons
and daughters to vocational secondary education. In contrast, one third of
the pupils, from families with both parents not having a degree of higher
education, are in vocational secondary education. Pupils with higher
[13]
educated parents are more represented in the general or art secondary
track.
This differentiation of the pupils over different tracks in secondary education
has important consequences for the further lives of the pupils, especially for
the final level of education they obtain in their lives. The secondary
education degree determines to a large extent whether young people begin
higher education and whether young people succeed in these studies. An
ongoing research into the education career of young people and their
transition to the labour market shows that 77% of young people in Flanders
begin higher education after leaving secondary education (Belet &
Laurijssen 2002). Not all groups participate in higher education in the same
manner. Almost all pupils finishing their secondary education career in
general education (ASO) move up to higher education (97%). Of the pupils
finishing their secondary education in professional education (TSO), only
69% pursue higher education. This percentage is even lower amongst
youngsters finishing the 7th year of vocational education (BSO), namely 17%.
The different tracks also influence the type of higher education the
youngsters begin. While 46% of pupils from general education move up to
university, only 4% of the pupils from professional education and only 1% of
the pupils of vocational education go to university. Comparatively speaking,
pupils with a professional secondary education end up more in
polytechnical courses (56%) than pupils with a vocational (16%) or a general
education certificate (35%) (Belet & Laurijssen 2002).
There are not only differences between the tracks in participation in higher
education. Also a significant connection between the track in secondary
education and the success rate in higher education has been reported in
other studies (Belet & Laurijssen 2002). 65% of youngsters with a certificate
of general secondary education already have a degree in higher education
when they are 23 years of age. Only 12% do not succeed in higher
education. On the other hand, only 24% of those few young people with a
certificate of vocational secondary and pursuing higher education have a
degree at 23 years, 61% of them ended their higher education prematurely.
Education level is very important for gaining a position on the labour market
and for opportunities in general life. Young people with a higher level of
education more easily find a regular and full time, white collar job than
youngsters only having a secondary education degree (Belet & Laurijssen
2002). As a matter of fact, education becomes an increasinly important
factor in finding a sure and stable job (Pelleriaux 2000) or obtaining a good
social position. People with a lower level of education also have a bigger
chance to end up in poverty (Cantillon & Marx 1995). They have a bigger
risk to lead an unhealthy lifestyle, to feel less fit and they have a lower life
expectancy than people with a high level of education (Deboosere & Page
1997). Education even largely determines the choice of a partner
(Agneessens 1999). In the last decades, education has grown to become one
of the main distribution mechanisms of chances in life in Belgium.
[14]
7
Differences in social and cultural practices
For the analysis in differences between social and cultural practices
between groups of youngsters, we used discriminant analysis. In such an
analysis we try to predict the gender or the education track by their cultural
preferences, their values and their social network. The question is then how
accurate we can predict these characteristics based on their answers. A
classification based purely on chance, would result in the case of two
categories in a good classification of 50%. If our classification result is
higher than this 50%, we can conclude that there are significant and
systhematic differences in cultural and social practices between these
groups. The bigger those differences, the better our prediction becomes. By
using this procedure, we are able to assess the importance of collective
identities for youngsters. If, for instance, we are only able to make a good
estimation of 55% of the gender of the cases, we can conclude that gender
as a form of collective identity in the social and cultural practice of
youngsters has become irrelevant. If our classification result is over 80%, we
can speak of a very relevant collective identity (Elchardus 1999b).
Once a strong connection has been established between a variable and
cultural and social practices, we can investigate the aspects on which these
groups are different. Therefor we have to look at the correlations between
the aspects and the discrimant function. This function determines the
difference between the categories. In the case of two categories we can
situate the two categories in one dimension, just like we can express the
distance between two cities on a line (Elchardus 1999b). The further the
distance between the two categories along this imaginary line, the stronger
the two categories differ in their cultural and social practices. The more a
certain practice discriminates between the two categories, the higher the
correlation between this practice and the discrimination function.
[15]
7.1
Girls against boys
TABLE 3: DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS
Boys Correlation with
discriminant function
.399
Macho factor
.364
.346
Use of cd-rom
Use of computer games
Positive self-image
Use of computers
Utilitarian individualism
Ethnocentrism
Self-confidence
Purchasing clothes in sport
shops
Schoolalienation
Member of a sportclub or a
hobbyclub
Use of a cd-writer
Use of the internet
Purchasing clothes on summer
festivals/gigs
Negative perception of members
of the pupil council
.298
.255
.245
.224
.194
Negative atittude towards
democracy
.103
.097
.095
.091
.090
Informal class climate
Rock music
Tough on crime
Number of musical styles rated
positively
Amusement factor
Sensitivity to fads and trends in
fashion
Member of a social organisation
Purchasing clothes by mail order
.089
.070
.063
.059
.055
Purchasing clothes in regular
boutiques
Friendship based on trust and selfdisclosure
Positive relationship with mother
Purchasing clothes in second hand
shops
.050
.043
Positive relationship with father
Purchasing clothes in high street
shops in the city centres
.116
.103
.077
Use of fax
Roots factor
.161
.159
.142
.136
.134
.084
Autonomy
Girls
.046
.041
.039
.037
.036
.014
.007
.003
Positive perception of the members
of the student council
Friendschip based on conformity
Gloomy picture of the future
Cultural correctness
Eigenwaarde= 1.587, Canonische correlatie = .78, Wilks Lambda=.39
Overal, we can classify 90% of the boys and 89,9% of the girls correctly.
Based on the answers, we can classify 90% of all young people correctly. In
[16]
other words, we can conclude that gender identities in cultural and social
practices still play a very strong role in young people’s lives.
What is striking, is that the most explicit dissimilarities between boys and
girls can be found in the domain of tastes. Four of the five cultural
orientations contribute to the discrimination between boys and girls:
cultural correctness, the roots dimension, the amusement dimension and
the macho factor. Only the rock music dimension doesn’t discriminate
between the two groups. Cultural correctness has relatively little
discrimination power. Furthermore it seems that a preference for the harder
rock musical styles is rather a boys’ thing than a female disposition. Earlier
research made the same observation (Stevens 2001a) and found that girls
prefer entertainment both where music and television are concerned. They
prefer soft and older musical styles like sixties, seventies, folk, jazz, and so
on, while boys favour loud guitarmusic like heavy metal, hardcore, punk
and hard rock. The most discriminating cultural orientation between boys
and girls lies in a preference for (Afro-American) rootsmusic like R&B, funk,
rap, ... which is more a female cultural orientation, while a fondness for the
more film based virile orientation is a male cultural orientation.
Table 3 also shows that the cultural differences between boys and girls are
not limited to music, media and filmpreferences. Girls and boys also buy
their clothes in different types of shops and they differ in their use of the
new media. Girls systematically have a higher score on the scale for
sensitivity to fads and trends in fashion than boys. They also purchase their
clothes in other types of stores. We want to stress here that we asked for
their shopping behaviour in types of shops, not for a specific type of clothes
or a particular design of clothes. All type of shops sell clothes for men and
women. Boys more often buy their clothes in sportwear shops and summer
festivals or a gig. Girls on the other hand go more to high street shops in the
bigger city centres, buy through mail order, go more to common boutiques
that you also can find in villages and in second hand shops. Girls consider
themselves more fashionable and buy their clothes in more different types of
shops. Their shopping behaviour can be interpreted as more omnivorous.
Clothing still is the cultural area of girls. Clothes form to a lesser extent a
source of street credibilty for boys. This corroborates the few international
researches that have been conducted in the past and that conclude that
there are important gender differences in shopping behaviour (Peters 1989).
This research found that girls are more involved in fashion and spend more
time on shopping than boys.
While girls are very much involved with clothes, fashion and shopping, boys
tend to spend their time in front of the computer screen. Computers, cdwriters, cd-rom, internet and even the fax are more prominently present in
the lifes of boys than girls. Also this conclusion is in line with earlier
research in other countries. Dutch (De Haan & van den Broek 2000) and
Danish (Drotner 2000) research came to the same conclusion.
[17]
Boys and girls also differ in their values. Boys tend to agree more with the
discours on utilitarian individualism, are less tolerant towards immigrants,
are tougher on crime, believe more that the individual should make up the
norms and rules in favour of society or community and tend to doubt the
principles of modern representative democracies more. Earlier research
made the same observation and then, these results were interpreted as a
backlash to the feminisation of the cultural values promoted in the
education system (Elchardus 1999b). Our society encourages more ‘female’
values like solidarity, self-realisation and warns against selfishness or
against an isolated and atomized life, detached from a community. These
authors state that boys, more than girls, are confronted with an identity
crisis: what does ‘masculinity’ mean nowadays and how can one be ‘male’
within a society that increasingly denounces ‘male’ values as unsuited. Boys
tend to resist this trend by questioning this political correct thinking
(Elchardus 1999b) and they look for a new articulation of masculinity. They
find it in cultural scripts present in action- and adventure movies made in
Hollywood or in ‘new laddism’ spread by certain magazines and some
English sit-coms. This partly explains the enormous discrimination power of
cultural productions of the massmedia. Recent research also shows a clear
association between a macho like attitude and school performances of boys
(Derks & Vermeersch 2001). The most important factor in the explanation of
differential school performances between boys and girls is a rejection of
school conformity, closely associated with machismo. Not only the individual
attitudes are important, but also the values of the other pupils in school.
Pupils tend to conform to the dominant value system in school. A
concentration of pupils with a macho attitude in school promotes machismo
amongst other pupils, even amongst those who do not subscribe to this
attitude in the first place (Derks & Vermeersch 2001; Pelleriaux 2001;
Stevens & Elchardus 2001).
Girls and boys also differ in the way they perceive their schools. Girls are
more positive about their schools, they are less alienated and have a more
positive image of the members of the student council. This does not fit the
male script of toughness and laddism. Boys consider the members of the
student council more as goody goodies or as collaborators with the school
authorities. They are also more inclined to believe that one has to undergo
the educational system and that it’s impossible to change it from within.
There are also differences in the way boys and girls assess their immediate
life environments. Boys are more self-assured and have a more positive
image of themselves. Girls tend to have a more gloomy picture of the future
than boys. Also in the relationships with their parents, there are remarkable
differences between girls and boys. Boys report sytematically better
relationships with their father, while girls have a more positive relationship
with their mother. Girls also have more scripts to make friends. They tend to
stress both self-disclosure and trust as well as conformity as grounds to
build friendships on.
[18]
There are also noticable differences in the social network of boys and girls.
Boys are more active in sport or hobby clubs, while girls are more involved
in social organisations. The value of competitiveness in sports is closely
linked to masculinity (Passmore & French 2001), while values like caring,
solidarity and sharing emotions are more closely related to femininity. These
values are the core of social movements and social organisations (Roker et
al. 1999).
7.2
ASO versus BSO
For the differences between the education tracks we limit the analysis to
pupils in the general or art secondary education on the one side and pupils
from vocational education on the other. Pupils of the professional secondary
education mostly take a position in the middle between those two groups.
The current analysis involves only 66,4% of the respondents in the sample.
We can classify 82,2% of these pupils correctly by their social and cultural
preferences. Pupils from vocational education (83,2%) are slightly better
classified than the pupils from general and art secondary education (81,2%).
The two groups perceive their social world quite differently. It is remarkable
that there are no differences in their perception of their immediate
environment, but that there are very distinct disparities in views of society.
Pupils from vocational education approach their relationship with their
parents as positively as pupils from general or art secondary education.
They have the same amount of self-confidence and they have an equal trust
in their capacities as an individual. They only differ in their conception of
friendship. Pupils in vocational secondary education define friendship more
in terms of sharing intrests and being alike. While there are no remarkable
differences in perceptions of the immediate environment, pupils from
different tracks perceive school life in various ways. Pupils in general or art
secondary education are more satisfied with school life than pupils from
vocational secondary education. Moreover, they share the conviction that
they should be heard by the school authorities with regard to important
school issues, more than their counterparts in vocational training. The most
significant dissimilarity between the two groups is their view of society.
BSO-pupils are more inclined than ASO/KSO-pupils to support discourses
on ethnocentrism. They are increasingly critical toward the representation
principle in the organisation of modern democracies. Even in school, they
are very sceptical about their representatives in the school council. They
tend to support tough policies on crime. The difference in attitude towards
utilitarian individualism between the two groups is less substantial, but
nonetheless, the data suggest that pupils in vocational secondary education
are more convinced that people solely act on their own behalf than their
counterparts in general or art secondary education. These conclusions all
confirm earlier research (Elchardus 1999b). Pupils in vocational education
[19]
are not that unhappy with their lifes (or at least, they are not unhappier
than other pupils) and compared to other groups in the education system,
they are not even that displeased with their school lifes. Only with regard to
TABLE 4: DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN ASO/KSO- AND BSO-PUPILS
ASO/KSO
Cultural correctness
Rock music factor
Endogenious friendship
relation
Participation in
extracurricular activities
Importance of informal
participation in school
Use of internet
Member of a sport and
hobby club
Roots factor
Cumulation of memberships
of organisations
Correlation with
discriminant function
.462
.448
.374
.352
.346
.340
.336
.317
.270
.267
.246
.230
.228
.221
Utilitarian individualism
.210
Negative perception of
members of the pupil council
Purchasing clothes on the
market
.206
.203
.194
Purchasing clothes in
confection stores (periphery
of the cities)
Macho factor
Sensitivity to fads and trends
in fashion
.175
.166
Use of cd-rom
Purchasing clothes in high
street shops in the city
centre
Schoolsatisfaction
Purchasing clothes in
second hand shops
Friendship based on
conformity
.234
.183
.177
Membership of social
organisation
Amusement factor
Ethnocentrism
Negative attitude towards
democracy
Tough on crime
Use of cellular phone
.304
.206
Number of musical styles
that is appreciated
Use of computers
BSO
.161
.147
.146
Purchasing clothes by mail
order
Use of game computers
.137
.131
.109
Use of cd-writer
Eigenwaarde= O.587, Canonische correlatie = .61, Wilks Lambda=.63
their outlook of society, BSO-pupils do differ enormously from other pupils.
Fundamentally, their view of society consists of a lack of trust in other
[20]
people. They translate this distrust on a social level by critizising democratic
institutions and the fundamental principles underpinning this system and
by questionning the increasingly multicultural character of modern Western
societies. Values like ethnocentrism, antidemocratic attitudes, utilitarian
individualism and supporting a tough stance on crime are highly
interrelated. It seems quite plausible to assume that they involve a complex
of attitudes (Elchardus and Pelleriaux, 2001) underlying the main cultural
conflict in the voting behaviour of the Flemish (Billiet et al. 2001; Elchardus
1994; Elchardus & Pelleriaux 1998). This cultural conflict is already present
in our secondary education and at an age when young people still have no
voting rights. It seems to be socially structured along the lines of the tracks
in the education system.
It would be wrong though to limit the differences between the two groups to
differences in opinion. Once again the five cultural orientations are very
important in the discrimination between pupils from different tracks.
Outspoken differences between the two tracks exist towards the
appreciation of amusement products, which are definitely more popular
amongst pupils of vocational education. The roots orientation, cultural
correctness and the rock music orientation are more typical for the taste of
pupils in general and art secondary education. The virile dimension does not
add extra discrimination power to the model if we control for the other
cultural aspects. The correlation between this orientation and the
discriminant function suggests that it is rather a part of the taste of pupils
in vocational secondary education. Taste and culture rather mean
amusement and pleasure for pupils in vocational education. Pupils in
general and art education will rather use a criterion like quality or
authenticity to make judgements on taste. Furthermore its seems that
omnivoroussness is rather a characteristic of the taste of youngsters in
general and art secondary education. Once again this corroborates with
earlier research (Stevens 2001a). The results show that pupils from general
and art secondary education appreciate a larger number of musical styles
than pupils in vocational education.
Both groups also seem to differ in their use of the new media. Youngsters in
vocational secondary education tend to use a cellular phone more and
spend more time playing computer games. ASO/KSO-pupils are spending
more time in front of the computer screen, surf on the internet more or more
frequently use a cd-rom. If BSO-pupils use the computer, than they are
more inclined to use a cd-writer. Also in shopping behaviour there are
differences, although they are not outspoken. Pupils in vocational training
feel more sensitive to fads and trends in fashion. They buy their clothes
more on market squares or in big retail stores outside the city centres. The
high street brand shops, but also the second hand stores, belong more to
the shopping domain of pupils taking general or art secondary education.
[21]
Finally, the two groups are involved in different types of social networks.
Pupils from general and art secondary education participate more in
extracurricular activities, in social organisations and in sport and hobby
clubs. They also tend to cumulate a greater number of memberships of
organisations than pupils from vocational training. But there are also
discrepancies in the informal social network of the two groups. Pupils from
general and art secondary education have a more endogenous group of
friends. That means that their group of friends is more limited, that they
find them more in the immediacy of their schools, that they have fewer a
steady relationships and they consider themselves as less popular.
8
Conclusion
Our findings show that there are still remarkable differences in social
participation, social values and cultural preferences. Two very important
axes of these cultural differences in Flanders are differences between the
two sexes and differences along education tracks. The cultural orientations
we have identified are very prominent in the shaping of these differences. If
boys and girls or pupils from the different educational tracks differ from one
another, then it is most likely that they disagree on their position towards
the cultural orientations. We want to warn for an oversimplistic reading of
these results. We do not want to fall into the trap that it is social structure
that determines culture. It could be that culture helps to shape our social
environment by processes of distinction, belonging or by creating consistent
cultural codes over different fields. The social and cultural fields are so
intertwined that they almost form a conglomerate where it is difficult to
assess what causes what. Is the appropiation of a certain cultural
orientation advantagous for gaining a better social position or are the
differences in cultural preferences the result of material differences? Social
position can shape cultural differences, but it also could be that certain
cultural practices help us to understand and clarify our social world.
Cultural practices for instance, help us to understand what it means to be
male or to be female. In this respect, it is possible that the relationship
between culture and structure is not that straightforward as has been
claimed many times.
If we consider the main differences between boys and girls and certainly in
their perceptions of school, there are some remarkable similarities between
our findings and the lads in Paul Willis’ ‘Learning to labour’ (1977). The lads
in his study saw education as something to endure as painlessly as possible
and where it is important to “have a laff” and fool around to survive the long
and boring school days. One way to muck around is by being hard to other
pupils in the school system, especially towards conforming pupils. This
[22]
could be the explanation of the more sceptical look of boys, particularly
amongst those in vocational education, towards pupils engaging in the
school council. According to Willis (1977), lads shatter the promise of
meritocracy, inherent in the education system. Why should they do any
efforts to perform well in an education system that cannot keep its
promisses? In this respect they prefer to fail in the system and look for an
alternative status in a sort of counter culture, not promoted by the system.
They undermine the ‘normal’ workings and expectations of teachers and
school staffs. Earlier research has shown that differential value systems
between boys and girls are an important factor to explain differences in male
and female performances in schools (Derks & Vermeersch 2001). Boys
support values, conflicting with the values propagated by the education
system. These values reflect intolerance, tough and macho attitudes,
stereotypical thinking and agression. This relation between values and
failure can be indirect through problematic behaviour or can be attributed
directly because of the fact that youngsters with these attitudes are
penalized by the education system for expressing them (Derks &
Vermeersch 2001).
This aspect can also be traced in the differences between the pupils in
general and art secundary education on the one hand and pupils in
vocational training on the other. On the one hand, there are ‘happy, shiny’
pupils going to general or art secundary educational tracks, involved in
extracurricular activities and eager to be involved in school policy which
also translates in a higher school satisfaction. On the other hand, there are
pupils in the vocational education, feeling less at home in their schools, and
embracing to a lesser extent the values propagated by the educational
system. Remarkable in the difference between the two educational tracks, is
that this unease amongst BSO-pupils is very much transposed on a social
level. BSO-pupils differ from the other pupils in their democratic attitudes
towards citizenship and in what had been called “the new cleavage” (e.g., see
Elchardus 1994; Elchardus and Pelleriaux, 1998). Attitudes such as a
preference for hard repression of criminality, utilitarian individualism,
ethnocentrism and anti-political and antidemocratic feelings are very closely
interrelated. Koen Pelleriaux (2001) showed that, in general, this
conglomerate of attitudes is closely linked to social demotion. This is defined
as the feeling one has no chance at all in our contemporary society,
whatever the efforts one puts in. Fundamentally, it is a criticism towards the
meritocratic promise of our society, namely the claim that every individual
has the same opportunity to socially advance as long as the individual
devotes himself to this goal and takes responsibility for himself. This
meritocracy, however, is ‘imperfect’ (Elchardus 1998). Pupils from different
social backgrounds enter education with different resources, resulting in an
unfair competition generally turning out disadvantageously for pupils with a
lower social background. A society, blind for these differences in resources
and capacities and blind for these mechanisms, blames the individual for its
failure. In the end, it is a very offensive discours for people with a lower level
[23]
of education. It is your own fault if you do not succed in life. Treated in this
harsh manner, BSO-pupils do not have high expectations of the society in
which they live. This fosters their conviction that society is made up by
autonomous individuals only interested in the pursuit of their own selfish
goals (Cieslik 2001).
It would be wrong though to interpretate the differences between general
and vocational pupils solely from a ‘laddish’ point of view. The differences in
cultural preferences demonstrate another refinement. The best way to
explain this refinement is by referring to what has been called in the French
speaking part of Belgium as ‘le duel Spirou-Tintin’3 (Dayez 2001). Since the
existence of the two comic papers, from the 1940’s 4, there was a fierce
competition between them about style and a competition for the hearts of
the young public. The magazine Tintin was led by Hergé, the designer of the
comic character with the same name. The comics in the magazine were like
the comic Tintin: catholic, serious, without frivolities, open to events in other
cultures or to events in the past, sound from an educational point of view,
with realistically, anatomically correct drawings and well documented
backgrounds. All comic writers were followers of the so called clear line
drawings, so cherished by Hergé. Spirou on the other hand, had a more
rebellious image, although it was as catholic or as sound from an
educational point of view as Tintin. Instead of the seriousness of the comics
of Tintin, it offered comics with a sense of humour like Spirou, but also
comics as the Smurfs or Lucky Luke. The drawings and stories were not at
all realistic, the events took place in a completely fantasized world and there
was a strong emphasis on humour and amusement. This ‘duel’ was not
limited to the style of the comic papers alone. There was also a kind of duel
between the readers of the two magazines. Tintin-adapts did not read Spirou,
and on the other hand Spirou-fans did not want to be associated with Tintin
or readers of the magazine, which they considered pathetic. This controversy
did not limit itself to the two comic magazines, but also took on the form of a
musical dispute. In the fifties Spirou-fans favoured American rock music like
the music of Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, etc. Tintin-fans developed a
taste for more European style sentimental songs. In the sixties it developped
into the friction between Rolling Stones and Beatles fans. Robbedoes/Spiroufans became supporters of the rougher and less polished music of the
Rolling Stones, while Kuifje/Tintin-readers predominantly became Beatles
fans. Since the sixties, the music industry has tried on several occasions to
artificially create a distinction between more ‘rebellious’ and ‘rougher’ music
3
Due to the popularity of the two magazines, very soon Flemish editions of the two
magazines appeared in shops. Robbedoes is the Flemish version of the comic
magazine Spirou, while Kuifje is the Flemish version of the comic magazine
Tintin.
4
Spirou actually appeared for the first time in 1938. Tintin became an
independent magazine in 1946. Both magazines had their greatest reading
audiences in the 1950’s and 1960’s though.
[24]
groups on the one side and more ‘innocent’ and ‘respectable’ groups. One
such an example is the very artificial controversy between Blur and Oasis in
the nineties. There is a certain ressemblance in our results of that old
divide. On the one hand, you have the goody goodies in general and art
secundary education, very much involved in the ‘serious’ and ‘qualitative’
approach in the products belonging to the cultural correct dimension or
involved in the search for authenticity in the products belonging to the
roots- or rock dimension and with attention for cultural products popular
when their parents were teenagers themselves. On the other side, there are
pupils in vocational education looking for amusement and a certain degree
of rebellion and toughness in cultural products. The divide between
Robbedoes-fans and Kuifje-fans never has run very deep. They were two
shades of the same popular culture, acting as material to mark symbolic
boundaries. Similarly, one can read the cultural differences between the two
groups of pupils.
9
Literature
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[31]
Appendix A: Construction of the five cultural dimensions
TABEL 5:
LOADINGS
ON THE DIMENSIONS IN TASTE
(STRUCTURE
MATRIX
–
PRINCIPAL AXIS FACTOR
ANALYSIS WITH OBILIQUE ROTATION)
Cultural element
Newcasts and current
affairs
Canvas – public tv
Classical music
Folk/worldmusic
Radio1 – public radio
informative
radioprograms
TV1 – public television
Radio 2 – public radio
regional programs
Radio 3 – public,
classical music radio
Political films
Jazz-blues
Cabaret
French chansons
Ketnet – public tv for
children
Talkshows
‘Little news’ programs
Cultfilms
Regional tv
Vtm – commercial tv
Dating programs
Radio contact –
commercial radio
Quiz
Shows
Foreign language
soaps
Top radio –
commercial youth
radio
Flemish spoken
drama’s
Top of the pops music
Kanaal 2 – commercial
tv
VT4 – commmercial tv
Radio Donna – public
radio
‘Tien om te zien’music
Romantic films
Tmf – flemish music
television
Human interest
programs
Magazines
House
Radio mango –
Cultural
correctness
Amusement
dimension
Macho
dimension
Roots
dimension
Rock
musical
dimension
-.180
.621
-.021
.039
-.145
.619
.586
.572
.566
-.197
-.028
-.002
.143
-.046
-.037
-.104
.035
-.147
-.360
-.342
-.072
-.309
-.314
-.398
-.240
.536
.533
.019
.321
-.083
.037
-.152
-.101
-.229
-.188
.500
.192
.045
-.125
.195
.500
.499
.491
.474
.442
-.075
-.036
-.056
.163
.164
.186
.008
-.091
.012
-.003
-.250
-.465
-.292
-.308
-.235
-.315
-.410
-.410
-.239
-.235
.442
.433
.412
.397
.006
-.033
-.037
.237
.076
-.124
.265
.681
.675
.606
.048
.047
.138
.067
.178
.145
.183
-.194
-.158
-.272
-.061
.075
-.113
-.126
-.130
-.229
-.316
-.080
.141
.053
.122
.110
.141
.011
.605
.600
.588
.230
.267
.088
.002
-.010
-.205
.031
-.032
.029
-.174
.576
.336
-.028
.178
.151
.560
.096
.057
-.024
.081
-.303
.558
.536
.093
.430
-.248
-.086
.036
.107
-.381
.181
.517
.516
.460
.058
-.047
-.153
.117
-.025
.260
.515
.100
-.073
-.109
.131
-.280
.507
.479
-.024
.272
-.431
-.108
-.014
.029
.060
.474
.254
-.050
.032
-.264
-.167
.178
.455
.446
.402
.075
.428
.044
.052
.087
-.212
.280
.195
-.062
[32]
commercial radio
Mtv
Disco
English comedy’s
Schlager music
Action movies
Adventure movies
SF-films
SF en
fantasyprograms
Crime- en police
movies
Erotic movies
Erotic programs
Horror movies
Reality tv
Thrillers
War pictures
Techno music
Sport magazines (tv)
Comedies (movies)
Crime and lawyer
programs
Gabber
Sport games
Animated films
Trance and ambient
Soul / R&B
Reggae
Sixties
Rap
Seventies
Film music
Funk
Social movies
Psychological movies
Rai
Animated tv-programs
Hard rock
Punk
Heavy metal
Alternative guitar
muzisic (eg grunge)
Rock
Flemish rock
Studio Brussels –
public youth radio
Hardcore
New wave
Ska
Eigenvalue
Explained variance
-.246
.281
-.185
.232
-.031
.033
-.006
-.085
.340
.326
.292
.233
.151
.140
-.003
.072
.222
.117
.268
.120
.703
.624
.587
.548
-.300
-.325
-.289
-.078
.138
-.028
-.097
-.158
-.080
-.170
-.033
-.196
-.076
-.081
-.156
-.128
.161
.151
.539
-.080
-.130
-.043
-.072
-.235
-.121
-.153
.298
-.110
.259
.006
.132
.182
.240
.119
.425
.062
-.096
.236
.145
.284
.297
.532
.526
.503
.469
.451
.451
.434
.403
.399
.372
.235
.241
-.157
.076
-.226
-.045
.031
.245
-.076
-.211
-.092
-.078
-.080
.067
-.102
-.263
.047
-.112
-.020
-.116
-.140
.253
.181
.016
.104
.249
.484
.068
.483
.304
.199
.339
.243
.207
.247
.116
.181
.085
.282
.348
.075
.157
.157
.145
-.053
.082
.088
.076
.332
.086
.258
.085
.063
.160
-.083
-.150
-.055
-.169
.368
.364
.291
.289
.091
.080
-.096
.150
-.093
.034
.093
-.107
.098
.009
.232
.085
.051
.152
-.034
.136
.227
-.247
-.142
-.579
-.526
-.498
-.496
-.495
-.471
-.468
-.455
-.454
-.326
-.314
-.098
-.194
-.051
-.271
.011
-.113
-.150
-.006
-.170
-.354
-.421
-.255
-.423
-.204
-.358
-.153
-.189
-.133
-.161
-.824
-.782
-.776
-.758
.310
.419
.288
-.096
.001
-.124
-.017
-.024
.010
-.337
-.174
-.193
-.709
-.605
-.509
.022
.178
.215
10.52
13.15%
.128
.134
.094
9.21
11.52%
.261
.190
.004
4.93
6.16%
-.021
-.267
-.325
3.47
4.33%
-.451
-.357
-.348
2.60
2.74%
[33]