Peer Relations and School Resistance: Does Oppositional Culture Apply to Race or to Gender?.

Oppositional culture theory argues that members of involuntary minority groups tend to underachieve in high school for fear that they be accused of "acting white. " The underlying assumption, then, is that academic success harms peer relationships for involuntary minorities more than it does for other groups. Prior tests based on survey data fail to support the theory. Using the first follow-up (high school sophomores) of the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS), we examined race/ethnic and gender differences with respect to the two main components of oppositional culture theory: peer relations and school resistance. Like prior survey analyses, we found no support for the thesis that oppositional culture accounts for race/ethnic differences in school achievement. However, oppositional culture does appear to play a key role in explaining why male students tend to receive lower grades despite standardized test scores that equal or exceed the scores of female students. Based on a battery of measures in the NELS, we find that anti-studious attitudes and behaviors are more prevalent among males than females, and conclude that future researchers should be more sensitive to this gender aspect of school culture. The educational performance of African Americans has been a much-studied topic in the sociology of education. This research has revealed a mixed picture of African Americans in the American educational system (see Miller, 1995). On a positive note, there has been a steady increase in the high school completion rates such that by 1989 the percent of the Black population aged 25 to 29 that completed twelve or more years of school was 82.2 compared to 86.0 for the White population. On a negative note, despite increased high school completion rates, Blacks continued to lag substantially behind their White counterparts in school achievement. For example, based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments for reading and mathematics, in 1990, White 17-year-olds had an average reading score of 297, which is close to the "Adept Level" (300). In contrast, Black 17-year-olds had an average reading score of 267, which is closer to the "Intermediate Level" (250). With mathematics, an increasingly important subject in this high-technological society, Blacks continued to lag significantly behind. In 1990, the average math score for White 17-year-olds was 310, and for Black 17-year-olds the average score was 289. The most recent NAEP findings continue this trend (NCES, 2004). In 2003, White students in the eighth grade had an average reading score of 272, while Black eighth graders had an average reading score of 244. In mathematics, White eighth graders had an average score of 288, while in contrast Black eighth graders had an average score of 252. There have been many attempts to explain these gaps. Among these attempts, the theory that has perhaps attracted the most attention is the oppositional culture theory of Fordham and Ogbu (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Fordham, 1988; Ogbu, 1978, 2003). OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE THEORY Oppositional culture theory provides a compelling account of school resistance among African American students. To explain variations in minority success, it distinguishes between two types of minorities: voluntary minorities and involuntary minorities. Voluntary minorities consist of immigrant minorities, such as Punjabi Indians and Koreans who migrated more or less voluntarily from their homeland to America, seeking to improve their economic condition. In contrast, involuntary minorities are those who did not originally choose to become members of American society but were incorporated largely against their will either through enslavement, colonization, or conquest, and were relegated to a subordinate status. African Americans, Native Americans, and Mexicans are cited as groups that fall into this category (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). These differences of entry into American society result in differences in adaptation and differences in the perception of structural and social barriers usually confronted by new migrants. …