The Role Of Education In Society (the Theories Perspectives On Education)

Question 1

What do functionalists believe about society as a whole

Answer 1

Society is a system containing sub-systems that all play their role to keep society functioning.
It is held together by value consensus- agreement among society about what values are important

Question 2

Functionalist- What is durkhiems view on education

Answer 2

two functions- to create social solidarity and teach specialist skills

• social solidarity- individuals must feel part of a community. The education system creates social solidarity by transmitting society’s culture - it’s beliefs and values from one generation to the next. These are learnt through the hidden and overt curriculum.

Specialist skills- we now have a complex division of labour, where even one item takes multiple specialists. This corporation promotes social solidarity but for it to be successful everyone must have the specialist skills and knowledge to do their role. These skills and knowledge are learnt in education.

Question 3

Functionlaists- what does Parsons believe about education

Answer 3

Educations function is secondary socialisation and education provides a bridge between society and the home.

In the home you live by individualistic, particularistic standards and values, that only apply to that child and their house. You also get an ascribed status given from your family.
-however in society and education we must follow universalistic vlued and impersonal standards. Eg same laws apply to everyone and in school everyone must follow the same rules.
-in society and school there is a achieved status, based of our own efforts- meritocracy (IQ + effort = success)

-school helps us move from the family to wider society as both society and the school are based off meritocratic principles - that everyone is given equal opportunity to succeed through their own efforts.

Question 4

Functionalists- what do Davis and Moore believe about education

Answer 4

Perform the function of Role allocation
- schools select and allocate people into their future roles.
-they allocate pupils to the job theyrebest suited to based on aptitude’s and abilities.
-they argue inequality is necessary to ensure the most important roles in society are fulfilled. It would be inefficient to have less able people performing jobs like surgeons and pilots. so we choose the most talented people for these roles.
Education is where pupils show what they can do and the most able kids get the highest qualifications.

Question 5

Evaluation of the functionalist perspective of education

Answer 5

❌- meritocracy in education doesn’t exist there is not equal opportunity for all. Eg ethnic and class differences.
❌- kids from higher classes are more likely to be sorted into higher streams so they have an advantage as they abilities and talents get more nurture and attention, so they’re more likely to get higher qualifications and therefore better jobs.
IN SIMPLE- achievement is influences by class background not ability,
❌ Marxist criticism- Durkheim says education instils shared values of society but really it’s just the ideology of the ruling class.

Question 6

2- what in the new rights / neo-liberalism view of education- what do they believe the 3 roles of education are?
- they’re similar to functionalists

Answer 6

That education should
-Train the workforce
-making sure the most able and talented kids are recruited into the most important jobs.
-socialize kids into the norms and values of society to build social solidarity.

Question 7

New right- What do Chubb and Moe believe

Answer 7

They don’t believe education should be ran by the state
-they believe there should be a free market in education wit independently managed schools ran like private businesses tailored to the needs of parents and students.
-this is because the competition for students and funding will improve standard and quality of education and therefore produce a more skilled workforce.

Question 8

New right- how does the marketisation of schools improve the quality of education
^ eg how does the free market of education improve it.

Answer 8

It makes schools compete for finances so that the better a school performed the previous year the more money they get the following year. As a result, schools are turned into businesses that have to compete.

This makes schools improve their quality of education as they need to produce good results to get higher on the league table to attract funds and students.

Question 9

New right- even though new right believe schools should be ran like private business they still recognise that the state have two important roles in education that they agree with.
what are the two roles that the state perform ?

Answer 9

• the state ensures the school transmits a shared culture by imposing a single national curriculum.

-imposes a frame work onto schools where they have to compete eg league tables, Ofsted. The state give info the the parents about schools to help them with their decision.

Question 10

New right- what is vocational education

Answer 10

This is the idea that school transmits the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for the work place.
gives you the qualification needed for work.

• how the school mirrors the work place. Prepares the new generation for work

Question 11

New right- why are Marxists against vocational education

Answer 11

Believe it reinforces class inequality as prepares lower class students for lower class and lower paid jobs.
Maintains the social hierarchy of capitalists running society and keeps w/c in their place

Question 12

New right- What are examples of vocational education

Answer 12

• apprenticeships
• Btec courses
  -work experience

Question 13

New right- advantages and disadvantages of vocational education

Answer 13

❌- the school focus on smarter children and given them the best opportunities for work experience and apprenticeships- neglecting w/c kids.
❌- training is of poor quality so fails to transmit adequate skills for the work force.
❌- controls young people by keeping them off the street

✅-good for the economy- pay less for kids working
✅- valuable to learn work discipline
✅- gives realism to learning

Question 14

New right- evaluation

Answer 14

❌- the cause of low educational standards is not because of state control but social inequalities and inadequate funding of state schools
❌- Marxists criticism- education does not instil shared values and culture but instead the the values of the dominant ruling class.
❌- there is no equal opportunity- w/c kids sorted into lower class jobs as m/c kids can use their economic and cultural capitol to get into better schools that instil higher quality skills needed for better jobs in the work force.

Question 15

3- what is the Marxists view of society as a whole

Answer 15

They believe society is based on class division
With the capitalist class (bourgeoisie) ruling over the working class who are exploited by them.

Question 16

Marxism- what is their view on education

Answer 16

See education as maintaining capitalism

Question 17

Marxism- what does Althusser believe
How do the ruling class maintain their position and power.

Answer 17

The state keeps the upper class in power in the following ways
1- ideological state apparatus (ISAs) - this is maintaining the rule of the upper class by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs. Eg through education, media, family

2- the repressive state apparatus (RSA’s) - maintains rule of upper class through force eg violence, army, police, imprisonment to repress the w/c

Question 18

Marxism- Althusser- education is an important ISA that performs two functions
What are the two functions

Answer 18

1- education reproduces an efficient and obedience workforce by teaching them specialist skills
2-and socializes workers into accepting the dominant ideology (this is known as false consciousness) when the w/c doing know they’re being exploited.

Question 19

Marxism- what do Bowls and Gintis believe
What is the correspondent principle they came up with

Answer 19

They believe that school produces subservient workers for the upper class that are willing to accept low pay and hard work.

The correspondent principle is the idea that the school mirrors the workplace.

Question 20

Marxism- bowls and gintis - correspondent principle
How is the school and workplace similar

Answer 20

1- hierarchy
School- teachers have authority over students. Work- managers, bosses have authority over workers
^ teachers kids that there will always be someone above you that you have to be obedient too

2-competition
School- compete to be in higher streams and get higher grades
Work- compete for promotions and higher pay

3- extrinsic satisfaction
School- rewarded through good grades if you work hard
Work- rewarded through pay

Question 21

Marxism- bowls and Gintis suggest the idea of a hidden curriculum in schools.
What is the hidden curriculum

Answer 21

The hidden curriculum is how the correspondent principle is able to work.
- it is all the ‘lessons’ that are taught in school without being directly taught
Eg we are taught : to accept hierarchy and competition, work for extrinsic rewards, respect those above you, to be punctual, conform to rules etc

So the school teachers kids the values and attitudes of the work place.
Prepares kids for their roles as exploited workers- reproducing the workforce and maintaining class inequality.

Question 22

Marxism- bowls and Gintis - what is the myth of meritocracy
And what does meritocracy mean

Answer 22

Meritocracy is the idea that everyone have equal opportunity to achieve and its based off ability and hard work.
Bowls and Gintis believe this is a myth the education is not equal for all and factors like class and ethnicity affect your achievement.
- makes w/c believe they failed in school because they weren’t smart enough or didn’t work hard enough therefore prevents them from rebelling against the system as they blame themselves for their failure.

Question 23

Marxism- Paul Willis - learning to labour
What is the study and what does it show

Answer 23

Study of 12 w/c boys using participant observation
Showed the boys knew they were destined for w/c jobs and saw the education system was set against them.
However they weren’t passive students who just conform to the schools rules as bowls and Gintis suggest instead they rebelled against the school and adopted anti-school subcultures.
-went against schools rules and values by messing around ‘lads culture’ because they know there future is fixed so don’t bother trying.

Question 24

Marxism- bourdieu
What does he believe
Hint- habitus and cultural capital

Answer 24

The education system reproduces class inequalities by helping m/c kids succeed.

-M/c have share same habitus as the education system so they get cultural capital (status) from the school. This cultural capital gives m/c kids an advantage to succeed in the Ed system.
-W/c kids don’t have access to this cultural capital so the educational failure of the majority of these pupils is inevitable.
-education system devalues working class tastes and values and sees them as inferior.

Question 25

Evaluation of maxism

Answer 25

✅- useful is exposing the myth of meritocracy and bringing to light inequalities in the education system that have led to policies being introduces eg sure start

❌-too deterministic - assume all w/c kids fail and are passive and just accept the exploitation of school and work. Ignores that some w/c work hard and make their way up in society. - except Willis who acknowledges some kids reject values of school.
❌-ignores other inequalities in school eg ethnicity, gender. Uyy

Question 26

4- what is the feminist view of education

Answer 26

They believe education reinforces gender stereotypes and identities

Even though girls out perform boys in education they still experience patriarchy in school and go on to earn less than men.

Eg girls experience- sexual harassment, make gaze but girls blamed for attracting it and get uniform regulations,

Question 27

Evaluation of feminism

Answer 27

❌ Despite progress many issues remain eg gender pay gap
❌- ignores other inequality in schools eg class and gender - too much focus on girls when boys are the ones underachieving.
✅- girls are still achieving higher than boys so the patriarchy is schools may not be as prominent as feminsts suggest or girls are just better at overcoming it. shown as 80% of graduates are female.
✅ there’s been introduction of policies to help girls eg GIST