ABSTRACT
B. Fowler and F. Wilson, in their in-depth sociological study of the architectural profession, discovered ‘a whole repertoire of strategies for resigned endurance’ amongst the women they spoke to at every level’. Symbolic violence, in the language of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, occurs when signs, symbols, language, and behaviour are used in a manner that is alien and indeed damaging to a particular category of people. The thing that makes crits particularly symbolically violent is the absence of a clear set of criteria. Students have to use their knowledge of the unwritten rules, the doxic structure of the school, to be a success. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Student Destinations Survey has showed that women arriving in practice for their first year out are already less confident than their male counterparts. The RIBA Education Review regularly reports on the pay gap between male and female Part I students, which is already in the region of £1,000.
