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This article presents a clarification on points made in a theory of social class communication codes by Michael Huspek. I raised questions about the status of the terms 'code,' 'dueling,' and 'opposition' in my original Rejoinder. For it seems to me that these terms are not known by their internal relations, that is known through a language of their description, but are known only by what is taken to be their realizations. That is, in crude terms they are known by their outputs, not by their 'inputs'. Thus there is no necessity between the terms and what counts as realization. And, if this is the case, there is no principle of interpretation by means of which information provided by, or elicited from, an informant, can be transformed into data. This means that once an example, a stretch of speech, is challenged for its interpretation, or an alternative interpretation is offered, the theory is literally vacuous. This raised a further question about the use of the term 'theory'. I am inclined to think that if a term is only known by a realization, an exemplar, then the term is only a metaphor and the example stands in a metanymic relation to the metaphor: Terms in social theory are likely to be metaphors but if we can substitute x or y for these terms, and if their descriptions and functions are available, then external referents of the theory can be recognized and interpreted with some plausible necessity.

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.

These days various forms of psychotherapy are being extended to include a greater number of individuals from different social backgrounds. Training programs for probation officers, social workers, psychologists and members of the prison and borstal services are gradually being extended at different rates to include an understanding of psycho-dynamic processes and a therapy-oriented relationships. The therapy relationship is based upon the belief that those conditions which brought the patient into the relationship may be ameliorated by communication in a context where the normal status relationships serve as no guide for behavior in a context which involves a suspension of the patients social identity and where the referent for the communication is the discrete experience of the patient. This is a somewhat unusual social relationship involving some strange requirements. It will be argued that members of the lower working-class who are limited to a particular speech system are likely to find these requirements difficult to meet. Such individuals are likely to benefit less from therapy, to break off treatment early, whilst the therapist will tend to find the relationship unrewarding. Psychotherapist will require a sensitivity towards his patient of a different order than that necessary for a middle-class patient.