School versus pop culture? A case study of adolescent adaptation

This research has been supported by the Social Science Research Council. I have benefited from the criticisms and support of Stephen Ball, Dr Dana Breen and Dr Colin Lacey.

McCall and Simmons describe ‘respondent interviewing’ as an interview ‘where the information sought concerns the personal feelings, perceptions, motives, habits, or intentions of the interviewee’. ( McCall G. J. , and Simmons J. L. Issues in Participant Observation, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1969, p. 62.)

See Dreitzel H. P. , (ed.) Childhood and Socialization, Collier-Macmillan, London, 1973.

4 Speier M. ‘The everyday world of the child’, in Douglas J. (ed.), Understanding Everyday Life, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1971, pp. 188–217.

5 See Nash R. ‘Pupils’ expectations for their teachers’, Research in Education, No. 12, November 1974, pp. 47–61.

See Willmott P. Adolescent Boys of East London, Penguin Books, 1966.

Participant observation has been described by McCall and Simmons as ‘a characteristic blend or combination of methods and techniques that is employed in studying certain types of subject matter’. (G. J. McCall and J. L. Simmons, op. cit., p. 1.)

Vincent J. unpublished D. Phil, thesis, University of Sussex, 1974, p. 44.

9 See Frankenberg R. ‘British community studies: problems of synthesis’, in Banton M. (ed.), The Social Anthropology of Complex Societies, Tavistock, London, 1966, pp. 123–54.

All quotations are either from tape-recorded interviews which have been edited only to cut out repetitions or are reconstructions of conversations.

A weekly chart to be found in certain magazines indicating number of sales, i. e. popularity of records.

The danger feared was at the door, not in the hall. Thus there would have been no danger to Andrew's disco equipment.

For a comparative and contrasting case study see Birksted Ian K. ‘School performance seen from the boys’, Sociological Review, forthcoming.