ERIC Number: EJ911474
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Feb
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0159-6306
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Available Date: N/A
A Social Structural Reinterpretation of "The Burden of Acting White": A Hermeneutical Analysis
Mocombe, Paul C.
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, v32 n1 p85-97 Feb 2011
This essay explores how social psychologically the social structure of capitalist inequality has given rise to the Black-White achievement gap. This critical understanding is a reinterpretation of the "burden of acting White" hypothesis, and suggests that research on the achievement gap should focus on how the Black-White achievement gap is more a result of two interrelated epiphenomena, "mismatch of linguistic structure" and "mismatch of linguistic social functions", which result from the class structure in Black America as opposed to a "burden of acting White", the idea that Black students intentionally underachieve because of racialized peer pressure which, culturally, associates academic achievement and success with White Americans. (Contains 1 note.)
Descriptors: Linguistics, Academic Achievement, Social Structure, Peer Influence, Hermeneutics, Social Systems, African Americans, White Students, Achievement Gap, Social Class, Ideology, Underachievement
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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