Pupil Disaffection in Schools by Sarah Swann

Author:Sarah Swann [Swann, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781317073178
Google: 9LkFDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-04-15T03:21:43+00:00

Findings

We have seen that the hypermasculine ideal is lionised by the boys with whom we are concerned. Callum’s self-portrait which embodies this through a hard muscular body, anti-establishment stance, menacing facial expression, facial scar and display of weapons in particular was widely admired by the other boys (see Figure 6.2 on the following page).

Their discussions during the constructions of self-portraits revealed a concern with how their image is transmitted. In Michael’s earlier drafts of his self-portrait he asked whether he looks muscley enough. When using a camera in one session, the boys immediately arranged themselves into intimidating ‘hard’ poses: arms crossed, legs wide apart, baseball caps pulled down and tense facial expressions. Such posture projects a formidable persona but is also likely to affect how they feel about themselves and other people.

Looking at the boys concerned, the importance of this gendered image should not be underplayed: it was embedded in the popular consciousness of disaffected boys reflecting the culture of the deprived working class area in which they live. Status for boys was allocated through the fighting skills of their dogs. Mythical terminology was often used in their descriptions: one urban myth in circulation amongst the boys concerned a dog, supposedly an Alsatian crossed with a wolf. Good dogs were ‘sick’. Bad dogs were ‘scraggy’ or ‘scragbags’:

M: Callum’s Alsation thought it were bad (cocky). Ours is only reight young, we dint even think it could fight. So it’s there tormenting Callum’s dog, tryna bum it [boys laughter] tryna bum Callum’s dog and then next minute, Callum’s dog tries snappin’ it so they started fightin’ an’ our dog pinned Callum’s dog dahn to floor and ‘ad its mouth round its neck. (Tape recording)

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