%0 Journal Article
%T ¡°They Give Teachers a Hard Time¡±: Symbolic Violence and Intersections of Race and Class in Interpretations of Teacher
%A Melanie Jones Gast
%J Sociological Perspectives
%@ 1533-8673
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0731121418756044
%X A number of studies identify racial and class differences in disciplinary actions and teacher-student interactions; however, scholars place less emphasis on how race and class intersect to shape classifications of teacher-student relations. Using findings from an ethnographic study in a high school with significant racial and class stratification, I examine how teachers and black students of varying social-class backgrounds describe teacher-student relations and academic disparities. I show how middle-class and some working-class Honors black students shared their teachers¡¯ discourse about urban poor disengagement and ¡°black¡± misbehavior with teachers. Meanwhile, working-class (primarily non-Honors) black students called out teacher mistreatment in light of experiencing punitive relations and problems with teachers. Some of their peers and teachers interpreted such calls of racism as ¡°making excuses¡± for disengagement. Using Bourdieu¡¯s concepts of symbolic violence and misrecognition, I demonstrate the power of language about black student-teacher relations as school actors routinely legitimate race-class stereotypes in a diverse school
%K symbolic violence
%K misrecognition
%K race and class
%K teacher-student relations
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0731121418756044