In his theory, Bernstein asserts a direct relationship between societal class and language.Īccording to Bernstein in Class, Codes and Control (1971):įorms of spoken language in the process of their learning initiate, generalize and reinforce special types of relationship with the environment and thus create for the individual particular forms of significance (p.76). As an educator, he was interested in accounting for the relatively poor performance of working-class students in language-based subjects, when they were achieving scores as high as their middle-class counterparts on mathematical topics. The construct of restricted and elaborated language codes was introduced by Bernstein in the 1960s. Language, for Bernstein, is critical since it serves as the intermediary of social structure in the general theory of cultural transmission. Furthermore, relationships established within the social group affect the way that group uses language, and the type of speech that is used. The term code, as defined by Stephen Littlejohn in Theories of Human Communication (2002), "refers to a set of organizing principles behind the language employed by members of a social group" (2002) suggests that Bernstein's theory shows how the language people use in everyday conversation both reflects and shapes the assumptions of a certain social group. The theory holds that there are elaborated and restricted codes within the broader category of language codes. Theory of language code īernstein made a significant contribution to the study of communication with his sociolinguistic theory of language codes, which was developed to explain inequalities based on social class as found in language use. On 4 June 1983, Bernstein was awarded the honorary degree "Doctor of the University" by the Open University (Milton Keynes, England). He became Karl Mannheim Chair of the Sociology of Education, Institute of Education. He then moved to the Institute of Education at the University of London where he worked the remainder of his career. He enrolled at University College London, where he completed his PhD in linguistics. After teaching and doing social work for a time, in 1960 Bernstein began graduate work. Biography īernstein was born on 1 November 1924, into a Jewish immigrant family, in the East End of London. He worked on socio-linguistics and the connection between the manner of speaking and social organization. ( November 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)īasil Bernard Bernstein (1 November 1924 – 24 September 2000) was a British sociologist known for his work in the sociology of education. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations.
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