Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The labelling theory of deviance is applied to the study of historical materials concerning the segregation of educational deviants. It is suggested that educational segregation in Victoria gained impetus as a result of various campaigners (‘moral entrepreneurs’), and in addition, the introduction of mental testing with its assumptions of fixed intelligence and dullness provided the rationale for the removal of educational deviants into segregated classes. These classes flourished as a result of pressure brought to bear by various interest groups such as the Teachers' Union and Head Teachers' groups.

The ideas of McRae, the architect of the highly flexible segregational system in the 1920's, were subsequently taken over by the Victorian Education Department and turned into a rigid structure, emphasizing the abrupt separation of educational deviants from the normals. This system remained intact until 1968 when a ‘new’ move was made to change opportunity grades into more flexible teaching units.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bachelard

P. M.

The Education of the Retarded Child. Melbourne: M.U.P., 1934.

Becker

Howard S.

Outsiders. London: Macmillan Free Press, 1963.

Erikson

Kai T.

Wayward Puritans. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 1966.

Goffman

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Gouldner

A. W.

The sociologist as partisan: Sociology and the welfare state. American Sociologist, May 1968, 103–116.

Kirk

S. A.

Are special classes beneficial?

The Slow Learning Child, 1960, 7, 11–14.

Kirk

S. A.

Johnson

G. O.

Educating the Retarded Child. Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press, 1951.

Kitsuse

J. I.

Societal reaction to deviant behavior: Problems of theory and method. Social Problems, 1962, 9, 247–256.

Lemert

E. M.

Paranoia and the dynamics of exclusion. Sociometry, 1962, 25, 2–20.

10.

McLeod

The slow learning child—segregation or integration?

The Slow Learning Child, 1960, 6, 170–171.

11.

Newman

G. R.

Deviance and Removal. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 1972.

12.

Newman

G. R.

A sociological approach to the problem of educational segregation. The Slow Learning Child, 1969, 16, 20–28.

13.

Quinney

The Social Reality of Crime. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970.

14.

Sherlock

E. B.

The Feeble-Minded. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1911.

15.

Stott

D. H.

Observations on retest discrepancy in mentally sub-normal children. Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1960, 30, 211–219.

16.

Tredgold

A. F.

Mental Deficiency. 1st Ed., New York: William Wood & Co., 1908.

Educational Segregation in Victoria 1900–1968: A View from the Sociology of Deviance

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References