Deficit labels persist under new names like ‘at risk’ after old terms fade

Evidence

The term “culturally deprived” suggests that the home culture or value system of the students is inferior. It locates the problem of social inequality within the family or the individual, but this time instead of the individual’s genetic system, it is in the family value system where the problem is believed to reside. This perspective thus “pathologizes” poor and working class families. That is, it deems them to be socially and morally “diseased.” As the bias in the notion of cultural deprivation became evident, the use of that terminology has faded in use. However, the assumptions behind it have not. Instead they are couched in other terminology that is equally pathologizing, such as “at risk.” — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 938

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘pathologize’ and shows how ‘culturally deprived’ gives way to ‘at risk’ while retaining the same demeaning assumption.
• XREF: connects to: Deficit frameworks like Ruby Payne’s let schools shift blame onto poor families — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 950; Deficit explanations deflect analysis of structural barriers like low-wage jobs — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 942; Political administrations rename damaging policies with positive-sounding labels to obscure their real effects — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2686

Broader Connections

• Political administrations rename damaging policies with positive-sounding labels to obscure their real effects #expands (0.90) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2686