A Detailed Report on Paul Willis's Learning to Labour Analysis

This report provides an analysis of Paul Willis's 'Learning to Labour,' an ethnographic study focusing on working-class school pupils in a British industrial town. Willis explores how social reproduction is sustained and questions the reasons behind the subordinate's acceptance of their circumstances. The study examines the anti-school culture consciously established by students to raise self-esteem and gain status among peers. It critiques the limitations of the Marxist approach to education, observing how students often reject traditional schooling for semi-skilled employment. The research methods included classroom observations, interviews with students, parents, teachers, and career officers. Key findings reveal the students' disinterest in formal education, their perception of school as a middle-class domain, and their anticipation of factory employment. The analysis discusses the ethical considerations and theoretical problems, including validity, representativeness, and reliability, while also highlighting the importance of giving voice to marginalized students.

Running Head: LEARNING TO LABOR
PAUL WILLS: LEARNING TO LABOR
Students ID:
Name of the University
Authors Note

1LEARNING TO LABOR
Summary
Paul Will's learning to labour is centred around an ethnographic analysis performed
on a set of labour class including school pupils who are studying in a British Industrial town.
In this context, the interrogation that Willis makes in knowledge to labour emerges after a
Marxist standpoint. In this question, he asks the way in which social reproduction can be
sustained on an individual phase. Furthermore, he questions the accountability for the
subordinate’s agreement at their circumstance. Specifically, Willis facts out the absurdity
present in the statement that at the beginning, the employed class fellows who are studying
are willing to get employed at the workshop and has a standpoint of their own permitted will.
On the other hand, his choice works to sustain their social existence and oppressive
condition1. In this regards, the study is an effort to demonstrate the composite undercurrents
of the course.
The most shared dispute that is governed by Wills at the beginning of the study is that
the students are tempted to sound work by being less able2. Wills made an argument in this
context that the students have consciously established an anti-school org counter school
environment for raising their self-esteem and by obtaining status amongst their peer
members, the second necessary point that Willis address is that there is some limitation in the
1 Becker, Howard S., Herbert J. Gans, Katherine S. Newman, and Diane Vaughan. 2004. "On The Value Of
Ethnography: Sociology And Public Policy". The ANNALS Of The American Academy Of Political And Social
Science 595 (1): 264-276. doi:10.1177/0002716204266599.
2 Devault, Marjorie L. 2006. "Introduction: What Is Institutional Ethnography?". Social Problems 53 (3): 294-
298. doi:10.1525/sp.2006.53.3.294.

2LEARNING TO LABOR
Marxist approach towards education. The limitation here is that the students continuously
turn away from school and tries for semi skills for permanent employment rather than being a
traditional Marxist3. Therefore, in contradiction to the conventional viewpoint of sociology,
Willis observed that the system of education has been failing in working-class students. This
is because the student has realized that they did not have equal opportunities under the system
of capitalism and even if they try hard, they will remain lower than the middle-class students
will.
Moreover, Willis in this ethnography illustrates a method of difference used by the
students that make them detach themselves from the prevalent norms of school and
necessities. The culture of the counter school is built based on working class repertoire, the
experience of life and wisdom over the knowledge of theory, a willingness of hard labour,
representation of chauvinistic masculinity and challenging obedience over the working
culture4. Willis argues in this context that the students are well aware of the fact that finally,
their fate of class will not allow them to obtain any skills as held by the ethos of
individualism rather it will fulfil the necessities of the working class market.
Methods
Sampling
In case of sampling, Willis concentrates on a specific group of students boys in a non-
probable secondary school situated in Midlands, who represented themselves as ‘lads’. All
3"Willis Anti-School Subculture". 2018. Sociologytwynham.Com.
https://sociologytwynham.com/2008/12/27/willis-anti-school-subculture/.
4 Willis, Paul, and Mats Trondman. 2000. "Manifesto For Ethnography". Ethnography 1 (1): 5-16.
doi:10.1177/14661380022230679.

3LEARNING TO LABOR
the students were white, where many students belonged to West Indian and Asian
backgrounds. The population of the school was almost 600, and the school was a
predominant working class. In this, the authors justify the major reasons for selecting the
school was due to the typical type of school attended by the working class students.
Data collection
The author Willis attended all the classes of the school, options and career session that
took place at different times. He also collected data by speaking to some student’s parents,
senior teachers of the school as well as the junior teachers and the career officers that were in
contact with the represented ‘lads'. In this regards, the authors followed these lads for a
period of 6 months. In this study, he used an extensive range of structured interview.
Willis observed through the process of the interview that the participants were
immersed in the social settings where he was able to question them about their behaviour
while motivating them to illustrate their problems in their own way5. From the interviews, he
came to know about the student's behaviour of fighting, getting involved into troubles with
the teaching staffs, bunking lessons frequently, setting pranks on fire extinguishers and
tantalizing a supervisor accompanying them on a school trip.
Findings
One of major most important observation found by Willis was that the lads were not
at all interested in school; rather they observed the whole concept of school as ‘having a laff '
other than achieving the qualification. From the personal perspective, it can be stated that
their approach towards school was to survive it, to do as less as possible and to have the
5 Lamont, Michèle, and Ann Swidler. 2014. "Methodological Pluralism And The Possibilities And Limits Of
Interviewing". Qualitative Sociology 37 (2): 153-171. doi:10.1007/s11133-014-9274-z.

4LEARNING TO LABOR
maximum amount of fun by limiting the boundaries of the authority. They wanted to go
against all the norms and rules prevalent in school by bunking classes regularly6. It is evident
from the findings that they did not prioritized education due to the anticipation of getting
factory employment that did not call for any formal qualification7. Moreover, they
represented the school as a bit classy and a place suitable for the middle-class students.
Analysis
In this observation of methods and findings, Willis did not include any way by which
he approached these determined ‘lads’ and the way in which he built rapport with them.
However, considering the responses of the students during the discussion and structured
interviews observing the open talk about their viewpoints and their experiences in school was
helpful in the later phase of the research8. The findings from the methods that there was some
understanding about the theoretical concept of capitalism9. In this context, Willis argues that
while some perception has been already made on the students, still they have not experienced
through the entire concept of capitalism.
6Krause-Jensen, Jakob. 2011. "Ideology At Work: Ambiguity And Irony Of Value-Based Management In Bang
& Olufsen". Ethnography 12 (2): 266-289. doi:10.1177/1466138110362008.
7 Willis Paul, and Mats Trondman. 2000. "Manifesto For Ethnography". Ethnography 1 (1): 5-16.
doi:10.1177/14661380022230679.
8 Lamont, Michèle, and Ann Swidler. 2014. "Methodological Pluralism And The Possibilities And Limits Of
Interviewing". Qualitative Sociology 37 (2): 153-171. doi:10.1007/s11133-014-9274-z.
9 Van Maanen, John. 2010. "Ethnography As Work: Some Rules Of Engagement". Journal Of Management
Studies 48 (1): 218-234. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00980.x.

5LEARNING TO LABOR
From the results and observation, it can be analysed that these ‘lads' do not have any
complete knowledge about the working style of capitalism and its works to exploit them.
Therefore, in some way, these lads were unintended conspirators moving on the path of their
own exploitation. In addition to this attitude towards schoolteachers’, women, as well as
ethnic minorities, is also destructive in nature10. According to the author, this notion and
perception of the lads was a wrong picture of the working class culture. The students were
unaware of the original concept of the Marxist view of capitalism and social class.
However, there were several problems in the methodology due to its time-consuming
nature. Moreover, it is not possible to repeat the research in the current period as it is hard to
access school to check reliability. In addition to this funding for the interviews is also quite
hard today within such limited period time and with such limited size of the sample.
Ethical consideration
The ethical strength of the study that it has provided the lads with a voice of their
own. These lads are generally those, who are normally resembled as a nuisance who does not
have an effective voice in society. The ethical weakness in the study is that Willis witnessed
the lads in getting involved in fights in racism and homophobia as well as he witnessed them
exploiting school property but he did not raise a voice against it11. The second ethical issue is
that the matter of confidentiality, with such limited size of the sample, it would be
10 Vaughan, Diane. The Challenger launch decision: Risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA.
University of Chicago Press, 1997.
11 Wilson, William Julius, and Anmol Chaddha. 2009. "The Role Of Theory In Ethnographic
Research". Ethnography 10 (4): 549-564. doi:10.1177/1466138109347009.
.

6LEARNING TO LABOR
comparatively easier for those people who were aware of the Lads Willis has been focusing
on in the study.
Theoretical problems in the study
Validity is a broadly used concept that is represented due to it is unstructured and
open-ended method of research allowing the author to sensitively push the lads in giving an
in-depth illustration of the society. However, something that may have undermined the
validity is the interpretation of data. In this context, he could have selected from the extensive
amount of data for which he had to support the biased viewpoint of the boys.
Representativeness of the study is quite poor due to the limited size of the sample and the
boys were only constricted to white boys12. In addition to this, the reliability of the study is
low because it is difficult to repeat the research due to practical factors.
12Willis Paul, and Mats Trondman. 2000. "Manifesto For Ethnography". Ethnography 1 (1): 5-16.
doi:10.1177/14661380022230679.

7LEARNING TO LABOR
Bibliography
Becker, Howard S., Herbert J. Gans, Katherine S. Newman, and Diane Vaughan. 2004. "On
The Value Of Ethnography: Sociology And Public Policy". The ANNALS Of The
American Academy Of Political And Social Science 595 (1): 264-276.
doi:10.1177/0002716204266599.
Devault, Marjorie L. 2006. "Introduction: What Is Institutional Ethnography?". Social
Problems 53 (3): 294-298. doi:10.1525/sp.2006.53.3.294.
Krause-Jensen, Jakob. 2011. "Ideology At Work: Ambiguity And Irony Of Value-Based
Management In Bang & Olufsen". Ethnography 12 (2): 266-289.
doi:10.1177/1466138110362008.
Lamont, Michèle, and Ann Swidler. 2014. "Methodological Pluralism And The Possibilities
And Limits Of Interviewing". Qualitative Sociology 37 (2): 153-171.
doi:10.1007/s11133-014-9274-z.
Lamont, Michèle, and Ann Swidler. 2014. "Methodological Pluralism And The Possibilities
And Limits Of Interviewing". Qualitative Sociology 37 (2): 153-171.
doi:10.1007/s11133-014-9274-z.
Van Maanen, John. 2010. "Ethnography As Work: Some Rules Of Engagement". Journal Of
Management Studies 48 (1): 218-234. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00980.x.
Van Maanen, John. Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. University of Chicago Press,
2011.
Vaughan, Diane. The Challenger launch decision: Risky technology, culture, and deviance at
NASA. University of Chicago Press, 1997.

8LEARNING TO LABOR
"Willis Anti-School Subculture". 2018. Sociologytwynham.Com.
https://sociologytwynham.com/2008/12/27/willis-anti-school-subculture/.
Willis Paul, and Mats Trondman. 2000. "Manifesto For Ethnography". Ethnography 1 (1): 5-
16. doi:10.1177/14661380022230679.
Wilson, William Julius, and Anmol Chaddha. 2009. "The Role Of Theory In Ethnographic
Research". Ethnography 10 (4): 549-564. doi:10.1177/1466138109347009.