4.2 Theorists Flashcards
Education and Social Mobility
Harris
Suggests that for traditional functionalism. social mobility develops out of the way people are encouraged to perform different roles, some of which are more important, skilled and difficult to learn than others. The promise of higher levels of income, status and power provide necesarry motivations and rewards.
Davis and Moore
Functionalist
Believe that the inequalities which flow through social mobility represents ‘an unconsciously evolved device through which societies ensure that the most important positions are conscientuously filled by the most qualified people.
Patterson and Iannelli
critique of functionalism
Argues that in Scotland; many studies have shown education and the acquisition of educational qualifications are important means through which mc families pass on their social and economic advantage to their children. In, these circumstances education, rather than promoting greater social mobility, actually reduces it.
Bowles and Gintis
Marxist
argue that modern education systems are characterised by ‘sponsored mobility’.
Rikowski
Neo Marxist
Recognises that there has been a business takeover of schools in the UK.
Under New Labour (and the coalition) business-funded academies were created.
School services have been subcontracted to private enterprise - Blair and ETS.
Breen
critique of Functionalism
Said that despite meritocracy involves open competition for social resources such as educational qualifications or adult employment, this only occurs at the lower levels of society.
social closure//social capital
Althusser
Marxist
Argues that the reproduction of capitalism involves each new generation being taught skills, knowledge and ideas required in the workplace.
Schools don’t just select, allocate and differentiate students as a whole in the interests of society as a whole. Their role is to help the children of the ruling class to achieve the levels of education required to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
The role of education is to educate most people ‘just enough’ to be useful employees and a small number ‘more than enough’ to take up high power elite working roles.
Aldridge
Argues that a key feature of modern industrial societies is a lack of occupational mobility for those lower down the class structure.
Aldridge
Argues that social closure does not only limit intra-generation social mobility, it actually causes it to decline.
higher status occupations closed from below. (high qualifications)
Saunders
New Right
Argued that social mobility is related to education in the sense that it relects the life choices made by different individuals and groups.
Saunders
New Right
Argued that mc parents invest heavily in their children’s educationand this ‘investment choice’ combined with the children’s hardwork, is rewarded by higher educational qualifications.
Saunders
New Right
Claimed that to see ‘mc children outperforming wc children’ in objective tests and to ‘deduce from this that the system itself is unfair and needed changing’ misses the point. Mc children are, he argued, simply more intelligent.
Halsey and Floud
Social Democrats
Halsey and Floud were key social democrats and were influential in the 1960s and 1970s.
They promoted economic growth and equality of opportunity in education.
They do not believe that the system is meritocratic, and it is the governments job to ensure everyone can reach their full potential.
They also do not believe that merely changing education related policies are enough, they recognised that there needs to be social changes as there is too much social inequality to provide equal opportunity; the richest will always use their wealth to gain advantage.
Wolf
Critique of social democrats
He is not sure that spending more will generate economic growth; for example Switzerland has low funding but a large economy.
