Problems in Studying
Class and Ethnicity
Several intractable
problems confront the scholar who tries to determine the relationship
among social class, ethnicity, and cognitive and motivational styles.
Most of the literature describing the cognitive and motivational
styles of ethnic students includes little or no discussion of social
class or other factors that might cause within group variations, such
as gender, age, or situational aspects. Social class is often
conceptualized and measured differently in studies that include class
as a variable; this makes it difficult to compare results from
different studies. Researchers frequently use different scale and
instruments to measure variables related to cognitive, learning, and
motivational styles. Operationally defining social class, especially
across different ethnic and cultural groups, os one of the most
difficult tasks facing social scientists today.
The nature of social
class is changing in the United States. Behavior associated with the
lower class 15 years ago – such as single parent families – is
now common in the middle class. Because social class is a dynamic and
changing concept, it is difficult to study social class over time and
across different cultural and ethnic groups.
(James A. Banks, 1997: 53)
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