Assured optimism in a Scottish girls’ school: habitus and the (re)production of global privilege

Citation

Forbes J & Lingard B (2015) Assured optimism in a Scottish girls’ school: habitus and the (re)production of global privilege. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36 (1), pp. 116-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.967839

Abstract
This paper examines how high levels of social–cultural connectedness and academic excellence, inflected by gender and social class, constitute a particular school habitus of ‘assured optimism’ at an elite Scottish girls’ school. In Bourdieuian terms, Dalrymple is a ‘forcing ground’ for the ‘intense cultivation’ of a particular privileging habitus. The paper analyses the ‘institutional’ habitus of this particular private girls’ school, drawing on headteacher interviews and student survey and focus group data, and relevant documents. The school is currently re-positioning itself to educate girls for global professional futures through the production of a desired habitus and certain spatio-temporalities.

Keywords
elite schooling; habitus; assured optimism; multiple capitals; spatio-temporalities; soft practices

Journal
British Journal of Sociology of Education: Volume 36, Issue 1

People

Professor Joan Forbes

Honorary Professor, Education