Latin and Ancient-Greek as foreign languages in school: A strategy of distinction for the upper classes?

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jürgen Gerhards; Professor Dr. Ulrich Kohler
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 321602695

Although there is no communicative benefit from learning Latin or Ancient-Greek, the proportion of pupils deciding to learn these languages has risen between 1999 and 2009 (Federal Statistical Office). The project proposed addresses this phenomenon and asks why pupils decide to learn Latin and Ancient-Greek in spite of the increasing importance of modern languages skills in the context of globalization.Based on elements of Bourdieu's socio-cultural class-theory and rational choice models, an explanation for the choice of old languages is developed. From this model hypothesis are derived which will be tested empirically. It is argued that the choice of Latin and Ancient-Greek can be explained by processes of "distinction", "exclusion" and "pretention". For the classes rich of cultural capital, choosing Latin and Ancient-Greek as foreign language signals a preference for an educational orientation which is freed from instrumental usefulness. With such a preference a highbrow-cultural orientation is associated and gains of distinction can be obtained. From discursive and institutional exclusion of the lower classes from the humanist education, exclusion-gains can be realized additionally. These result from the socialization of pupils in a socially selective student body. In the context of their pretentious behavior the middle classes copy the behavior of the upper classes but incorporate it into their own logic which is more oriented towards usability. As result they choose Latin to realize positive transfer-effects.To test these assumptions it is planned to conduct a survey at schools. The logic of selection of the schools and the information collected by the survey allow to differentiate the impact of the different motives for choosing Latin and Ancient-Greek.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants