In my recent doctoral class at Northeastern University, I was introduced to the theory of reproduction framework for the first time. The major contributors to the framework were the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and the American sociologists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis. The framework consists of Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction which states that the student’s social class pre-determines his/her level of school/workplace success and that they will probably wind up in the similar social class/occupations as their parents. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis also contributed to the framework by claiming that the American theory of meritocracy does not exist.
In a nutshell, the framework states that the true function of the schools is to prepare students to assume a job in the same socio-economic status as their parents. Another part claims that the American theory of meritocracy in which people are rewarded based on their own merits is a myth. The framework uses the terms, “cultural capitol” and “habitus” to describe the dominant social classes of any society and assert that schools use these as a benchmark to reward school success and in this process reject the culture of all other social classes.
The term “cultural capitol” describes the language patterns, ideologies, skills, disposition, and interests of the dominant social classes. The term “habitus” describes the success-oriented mindsets and behaviors that the upper classes have toward institutional life and their educational/workplace aspirations. The framework also theorizes that students being raised in poverty cannot inherit either the habitus nor cultural capital of the dominant classes, therefore they are already behind before they start school and are less likely to pursue college bound tracks.
The class also introduced me to my first ethnography titled, “Ain’t no making it” by Jay MacLeod. This book examines the lives of two peer-groups of male teens growing up in US public housing projects in the 1980s’. One group was black and the other white. Most the black peer-group teen’s family’s valued schooling highly, these students behaved well in school, believed in the theory of meritocracy and graduated from high school. In contrast, most of the white student peer-group dropped out of high school, they behaved badly in school and had families that did not value schooling highly. Unfortunately, the majority of the members of both groups ended in dead-end unstable menial jobs during their adult lives.
I am so happy that I was not aware of any of this as I was growing up in the South Bronx section of New York City which is also known as the Arson capital of the World and was well known for it’s very high crime rate. For me, living in the projects would have been a step up. I am first generation born American born to a family from Puerto Rico. My father only completed the sixth grade and mother only completed the third grade. They were both raised on farms in Puerto Rico and had to drop out of school to help work the farms. My mom only spoke Spanish and my dad spoke both English and Spanish. However, in an effort to communicate with my mom, only Spanish was spoken in my home until I started Kindergarten and learned English after my first 6 months.
Only my father worked in my home and he was lucky enough to start off as a cook at the Sheridon Hotel and did so well that they sent him to chef school. Later on he managed to get a job as a chef at the Waldolf Astoria hotel. Like the black student peer-group in the book described above, my parents valued schooling highly and expected my sisters and I to behave well in school. They also expected us to do our homework and cooperate with our teachers. They also believed in the theory of meritocracy.
To make a long story short, there were two actions that I initiated on my own that helped me to beat the odds and that kept me from falling into the trap of social reproduction:
1. In 1964, I was a 4th grader and I found the book, “Diane Stories” by Betty Cavanna, in my school library. I loved this novel about an upper white middle class teenage girl growing up in the suburbs. I read the approximately 400-page book over and over. I started acting like her, dressing like her, adopting her patterns of speech and started to imitate the writing style in the book. Little did I realize that until now I was really teaching myself some of the cultural capital of the dominant classes.
2. In 1965, I was a 5th grader and was lucky enough to find the book, “Manchild in the Promised Land” by Claude Brown, also in my school library. I read the book, which was about a former gang member from Harlem who grew up and become an attorney. I was so inspired by the book that I read it over and over again. I decided right then and there, that if he came from that type of background and became very successful as an adult, then I was going to do it also. I also decided that I wanted to attend college someday so I started to pay more attention to my schoolwork and to dream big.
In elementary school, my transformation soon started to pay off. My teachers started to notice that I stood out from the other students in behavior, speech patterns, school related attitudes and writing style. Therefore, they started to recommend me for higher ability tracks. By the time, I started 10th grade, the teachers in my NYC high school started to question me as to whether I was really from a Puerto Rican family and really lived in the South Bronx. At that time, NYC changed their district zoning and I got assigned to Christopher Columbus HS, which was located in an upper middle class neighborhood. I told them that my school records were correct. I realize now that the reason for their questions was that I acted like the upper middle class teenagers, which attended the school instead of a teenager from the South Bronx.
After completing my first semester of 10th grade at Christopher Columbus HS, I moved to Puerto Rico with my parents. However, this is another story in itself. After completing my first year of college in Puerto Rico, I applied for admission, attended and graduated from a state university in Florida. Later on, after a few careers in social work and the legal field, I became a K-12 educator after earning my certification under an alternative certification program. I then earned a Masters Degree and transitioned to teaching at the college level. I am so happy that I took this class and finally realized the sociological explanations behind my unusual success; I guess it is never too late to learn new things.
