Does `Race’ really `trump’ social class in educational (under)achievement? Statistical Skullduggery in the Case for Critical Race Theory?

Author(s):

Dave Hill

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 07 A, Social Justice: Statistics and Surveys

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-29

15:30-17:00

Room:

HG, HS 31

Chair:

Chris Gaine

Contribution

In this paper I critique the misuse of statistics in arguments put forward by Critical Race Theorists in Britain showing that `Race’ `trumps’ Class in terms of underachievement at 16+ exams and University entrance. Realising that the statistics presented in the 2000 Ofsted report by Gillborn and Mirza Educational Inequality; Mapping race, class and gender- a synthesis of research evidence sat uncomfortably with the claims of Critical Race Theory that `race’, not class, is the fundamental form of oppression in Britain, some Critical Race Theorists have since redefined the category of class difference in education attainment. Departing from 2000 report’s practice of showing class difference in educational attainment by comparing `social class 1’ (upper professional) with `social class 5’ (unskilled working class), Critical Race Theorists, for example David Gillborn in his statistics supplied to the Times Educational Supplement (Ward, 2008) now seek to show class difference in educational attainment by comparing `social class 3') with `social class 4'). Of course, these differences are considerably narrower than between `social class 1’ and `social class 5’. In this paper I present alternative representations of that data, and refer to CACI data concerning postcodes and university entrance (Shephers, 2009), data which does not show `white supremacy’. At a theoretical level, using Marxist work e.g. by Motala and Vally in South Africa (2009), the African-American writer Oliver Cromwell Cox (1948, also Reed , 2001), Young (2006) Zavazardeh (2002), Kelsh and Hill (2006), Kelsh, Hill and Macrine (2009), Cole and Maisuria, (2007) Cole (2009) I argue for a notion of `raced’ and gendered class, in which some (but not all) minority ethnic groups are racialised or xeno-racialised) and suffer a `race penalty’ in, for example, teacher labelling and expectation, treatment by agencies of the state, such as the police, housing, judiciary, health services and in employment. Gillborn’s current (2008) treatment of social class analysis and underachievement is critiqued as dismissive and extraordinarily subdued. I offer a Marxist critique of Critical Race Theory from statistical and theoretical perspectives, showing that it is not `whiteness’, a key claim of CRT, that most privileges school students in England and Wales. This analysis has policy implications regarding school/ school district/ national education policies, and also wider social and economic policies such as social cohesion, exclusion/ inclusion, and addressing wider economic and power inequalities in European societies (Booth, 2008; Toynbee and Walker, 2008; Hill, 2009a, 2009b; Hill and Kumar, 2009).

Method

There are two forms of analysis . The first is statistical analysis, for example of the CACI data concerning postcode related university entrance (reported in Shepherd, 2009 and elsewhere); statistical re-presentation of data from a variety of sources concerning school achievement at age 16, in particular that sourced from David Gillborn and presented in the Times Educational Supplement of 30 May (Marley, 2008). The second form of analysis is theoretical. The above data are considered as part of an emerging Marxist critique of Critical Race Theory, e.g. Mike Cole’s (2009) Critical Race Theory and Education: a Marxist Response; Mike Cole and Alpesh Maisuria’s (2007) ‘Shut the f*** up’, ‘you have no rights here’: Critical Race Theory and Racialisation in post-7/7 racist Britain, and Dave Hill’s (2008) Caste, Race and Class: A Marxist Critique of Caste Analysis, Critical Race Theory; and Equivalence (or Parallellist) Explanations of Inequality.

Expected Outcomes

This is a contribution to a Europe wide debate about race and class exclusion from educational success and alienation from/ integration in school success, entry to higher education, and social cohesion and stability. The debate will continue. It is a debate among academics, equality activists and governments concerned about `social cohesion’. The findings are that `white supremacy’ as a CRT form of explaining inequalities is not supported by statistics, and that in terms of theorising and deriving policy from theory, such a term is too blunt, ignores xeno-racism, and downplays social class factors in educational and social alienation.

References

Booth, R. (2008) Gap between rich and poor narrows, but UK is still one of the world's most unequal countries . The Guardian, 22 Oct. Online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/oct/22/equality-wealth-uk-social-mobility Cole, M. (2009) Critical Race Theory and Education: a Marxist Response, New York: Palgrave Macmillan Cole, M. and Maisuria, A. (2007) ‘Shut the f*** up’, ‘you have no rights here’: Critical Race Theory and Racialisation in post-7/7 racist Britain. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 5(1). Online at http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=85 Cox, O. Cromwell [1948] (2000) Race: a Study in Social Dynamics.(50th anniversary edition of Caste, Class and Race). New York : Monthly Review Press. Dehal, I. (2006) Still Aiming High. Online at http://www.blss.portsmouth.sch.uk/training/ppt/DFES_ID_KD.ppt#13 Delgado, R. (1995) The Rodrigo Chronicles: Conversations about America and Race, New York: New York University Press. Demie, F. Lewis, K. and McLean, C. (2007) Raising the Achievement of Somali Pupils: Challenges and School Responses. London : Lambeth Research and Statistics Unit. Demie, F. and Tong, R. (2007) Education Statistics. London : Lambeth Research and Statistics Unit. Gillborn, D. (2008) Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy? London : Routledge Gillborn, D and Mirza, H. (2000) Educational Inequality; Mapping race, class and gender- a synthesis of research evidence. London : Ofsted. Hill, D. (2008) Caste, Race and Class: A Marxist Critique of Caste Analysis, Critical Race Theory; and Equivalence (or Parallellist) Explanations of Inequality. Radical Notes (Delhi, India) http://radicalnotes.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ Hill, D. (ed.) (2009) Contesting Neoliberal Education: Public Resistance and Collective Advance. London: New York: Routledge. Hill, D. (ed.) (2009) The Rich World and the Impoverishment of Education: Diminishing Democracy, Equity and Workers’ Rights. New York: Routledge. Hill, D. and Kumar, R. (eds.) (2009) Global Neoliberalism and Education and its Consequences. New York: Routledge. Kelsh, D. and Hill, D. (2006) `The Culturalization of Class and the Occluding of Class Consciousness: The Knowledge Industry in/of Education’. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 4 (1). Online at http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=59 Kelsh, D., Hill, D. and Macrine, S. (eds.) (2009) Teaching Class: Knowledge, Pedagogy, Subjectivity. London: Routledge Marley, D. (2008) Mind the Performance Gaps. Times Educational Supplement. 30 May. Online at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2628662 Motala, E. and Vally, S. (2009) Class, “Race” and State in Post-Apartheid Education. In Kelsh, D., Hill, D. and Macrine, S. (eds.) (2009) Teaching Class: Knowledge, Pedagogy, Subjectivity. London: Routledge Reed, A. (Jnr.) (2001) Race and Class in the Work of Oliver Cromwell Cox Monthly Review, Feb. Online at http://www.monthlyreview.org/201reed.htm Shepherd, J. (2009) 'Universities don't like common people, do they?' The Guardian, 3 Feb. Online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/03/university-access-social-exclusion Strand, S. (2007) Minority Ethnic Pupils in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England . DfES Research Report RR-002.London: Department for Children Families and Schools (DCFS). Online at http//:www.dfes.gov.uk/research/ data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR002.pdf Strand, S. (2008a) Minority Ethnic Pupils in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England . Wawrick: Warwick Institute of education. Online at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/research/policy/recent_projects/minority/ Strand, S. (2008b) Minority Ethnic Pupils in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England Extension Report on Performance in Public Examinations at Age 16. Research Report DCSF-RR029. London : Department for Children Families and Schools (DCFS). Online at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR029.pdf Toynbee, P. and Walker, D. (2008) Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today. London: Granta. Ward, H. (2008) Colour-Blind: not any more. Times Educational Supplement. 16 May. Online at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2622897 Young, R. (2006) Putting materialism back into Race Theory: Towards a Transformative Theory of Race. The Red Critique, 11. Online at http://www.redcritique.org/WinterSpring2006/puttingmaterialismbackintoracetheory.htm Zavarzadeh, M. (2002) ‘On “Class” and Related Concepts in Classical Marxism, and Why is the Post-Al Left Saying Such Terrible Things About Them?’ Online at: www.etext.org/Politics/AlternativeOrange/3/v3n3_onrc.html

Author Information

Dave Hill

Univerity of Northampton, England

School of Education

Northampton

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