Search

Provides background information on Basil Bernstein and his theory of symbolic control and cultural production. Presents an interview with Bernstein addressing such topics as the concept of "pedagogy" and its role in his theory, "boundaries" as a conceptual key in his theory, and transformation of his theory. (CMK)

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01240.x Byline: Basil Bernstein

This paper arose out of the empirical requirements to describe and position agents and agencies of symbolic control concerned with the regulation of social relationships, consciousness, disposition and desire. These requirements led to a differentiation of agents in terms of their function and discourse and their segmentation through their specialized fields of activity and their stratification according to hierarchical position in a given field. This model generated a sensitive differentiation and segmentation which provides the social basis for expected differences in interests, motivations and identifications of functionally similar agents operating in different fields of activity. The model raises general issues of social class allocation and the relation between theory and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criticizes A.D. Edwards' construct of an idiosyncratic concept of classroom code and that classroom practice fails to demonstrate the use of such code. Set of concepts whereby code modalities may be identified; Close relation between the theory and its empirical base.

The author discusses the existence of general principles that affect the cultural and personal transformation of the subjects during the process of upbringing. In order to find a solution to this problem, the author focuses more on the process of transmission of educational contents than on the contents themselves. The transmissions is carried out though language, which, although subjected to stable rules, cannot be considered completely neutral from the ideological point of view, as it tends to emphasize the meanings produced by dominant social groups. During the relation of upbriging, the transmission is carried out also through a pedagogical instrument. This works according to rules that play a relevant role in the determination of the content and the forms of the relation of upbringing. The three main rules of pedagogical grammar are then examined: the distributive rules, the recontex-tualizing rules and the rules of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports social class differences in the emphasis placed upon the use of language in two areas of the socialization of the child: inter-person relationships and the acquisition of basic skills. The sample of 100 mothers is a sub-sample of 120 mothers who live in a middle class area and 192 mothers who live in a working class area. (The correlation between area and the social class position of the family is 0.74.) The results obtained from the use of a closed schedule show that the middle class mothers, relative to the working class mothers, place a much greater emphasis upon the use of language in the person area; whereas the working class mothers, relative to the middle class mothers, place a greater emphasis upon the use of language in the transmission of basic skills. The results are consonant with the prediction derived from the theory of restricted and elaborated linguistic codes which has also been used to generate a model for the understanding of social learning and forms of cultural discontinuity between the home and the school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from a sample of 351 families reveals social class differences in mother's conceptions of the uses of toys. Both the degree of agreement in the ranking of six possible uses of toys and the differentiation of the choices follow a social class gradient. Within the lower three social class groups the score on an index of maternal-child communication relates to maternal conceptions of the uses of toys. A significant correlation exists between the rank order of two uses of toys and the measured ability of six year old children even when the effect of social class is partialed out of this relationship. Maternal conception of the uses of toys is thought to have an important bearing upon socialization into the role of infant school pupil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a summary will be given here as the study has been described in detail in the previous report. Five sub-groups were selected with the characteristics shown in the article from two parent samples. The members of the main sample were drawn from a public school and a day release college. The speech sample consisted for each group of the 1800 words, approximately, which followed the first five minutes of the discussion. Long and short utterances were distinguished according to whether the utterance was between ten and forty syllables or over forty syllables.

Focuses on the relationship of linguistic codes, hesitation phenomena and intelligence. Elaborated and restricted linguistic codes; Levels of cognitive behavior.

This article focuses on linguistic forms or codes. Changes in the form of the social relation affect both the planning procedures used in the preparation of speech and the orientation of the listener. Different forms of social relations can generate quite different speech-systems or linguistic codes by affecting the planning procedures. These different speech-systems or codes create different orders of relevance and relation for their speakers. Two general types of code can be distinguished: elaborated and restricted. These codes can be defined in terms of the probability of predicting for any one speaker which syntactic elements are to be used to organize meaning across a representative range of speech. They themselves are functions of a particular form of social relationship. The pure form of a restricted code would be one where all words and hence the organizing structure are wholly predictable for speakers and listeners. It defines the form of the social relationship by restricting the verbal signaling of individual differences. Individuals mainly relate to each other through the social position or status they occupy. An elaborated code, where prediction is much less possible at the syntactic level, is likely to arise in that social relationship which raises the tension in its members to select a verbal arrangement from their linguistic resources which closely fits specific referents.