Peer Pressure

As I've suggested, the concept of peer pressure is a very general one and, as such, can be applied to a range of different areas and ideas. In addition, the concept impinges on a variety of other sociological areas (such as gender socialisation, the hidden curriculum and subcultural theory) and any evidence put-forward in this section could equally be used in any of the above areas.

One way that peer pressure exerts itself within the education system, for example, is through sex-role stereotypes. In this respect, as writers such as Byrne ("Women and Education", 1978) have argued, each gender is surrounded by a set of culturally-derived assumptions (about such things as ability, motivation, aptitude and so forth). Such assumptions (reinforced on a daily by parents, teachers, the mass media and, most importantly, male and female peers) effectively set limits for the individual in relation to their behavioural choices (in education as in life in general).

The significant point to note here is that "gendered expectations" based around various forms of sex-role stereotyping, influence male and female behaviour within the classroom and the school. These, in turn, can be related to wider adult experiences and expectations (such as the type of job you can expect to do, the level of your adult involvement in family life and the like). In this respect, the suggestion is that male sex-role stereotypes encourage an association with activity and a presumption of paid employment, whereas female sex-role stereotypes have stressed the reverse.

Expressed in such general terms, of course, the relationship between sex-role stereotypes, gendered expectations and educational achievement do not stand-up to close inspection - mainly because they largely ignore class and ethnic factors and differences. In basic terms, just because someone is "male" does not mean they will share the same sex-role experiences, perceptions and expectations as every other male.

However, once we start to take these ideas into account (and relate gender to class and ethnic differences), this basic explanation may be useful in the overall explanation of gender inequality in terms of achievement. We could, for example, relate recent changes in male / female achievement to wider social sex-role changes (the changing occupational structure, for example, that means fewer "traditional male jobs" and hence a necessary redefinition of male sex-role stereotypes).

Similarly, Sheila Riddell ("Gender and the Politics of the Curriculum", 1992) has noted the way in which economic changes in society have started to introduce the notion, amongst women and, to some extent men, of a "dual perception of future", whereby women saw their future adult lives in terms of both work and family. This idea also keys-into post-modernist ideas about identity, whereby it is argued that, for women especially, family and children are important aspects of gender identity (what it means to be "a woman" for example).

This is is also wrapped-up in peer relationships, given that the different social milieu through which men and women of different social classes moved contributed in different ways to educational achievement. Middle class girls, for example, were more likely to use their peer relationships to reinforce their determination for economic independence. That is, the peer group (or perhaps more correctly the friendship group) served to provide a form of group solidarity that helped each individual member towards their eventual social goals.

This type of "peer solidarity" can be seen to be important in different ways for males and females. For males it can help to confirm their specific positions within the educational hierarchy (to help reinforce their hegemony if you like) whereas for females it can serve as a form of defence mechanism against the battering of a "hostile world" - one, for example, that pressurises women to conform to a fairly narrow definition of sex-role stereotyping).

The evidence for the importance of the peer group and peer pressure should not be underestimated in relation to differences in educational achievement in terms of class, gender and ethnicity. In the latter respect it is evident that ethnic minority groups such as those of Asian or Afro-Caribbean descent have different conceptions of masculinity and femininity that are reinforced through the peer group (and they also display quite different levels of general and gender-related achievement). However, neither should the significance of the peer group be over-estimated, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, while it is clear that in some aspects of the curriculum (such as decisions about post-compulsory education, subject choice and the like) attainment is influenced in some way by peer pressure, the concept itself is probably too general to be easily, confidently and categorically applied to questions of differential educational achievement.

Secondly, a more-specific objection, perhaps, is that the concept of peer pressure is a dependent one, in the sense that such pressures are the result of a set of social processes (both within and outside the school) and, as such, need to be considered in these terms rather than as casual factors in their own right.