Education - Theorists Flashcards
(22 cards)
Key functionalist theorists
- Durkheim
- Parsons
- Davis and Moore
What two functions did Durkheim identify?
- Social Solidarity
- Specialist skills
How does education help social solidarity?
Members feel part of a community and are able to cooperate. It transmits culture and history from one generation to the next and gives them commitment to a wider social group
How does education provide specialist skills?
It teaches people specialist knowledge needed to play a part in the social division of labour since most industrial economies require a variety of different specialities
What function did Parsons put forward?
Education is a bridge to wider society. In the family, the child has ascribed status but in educaion and life its acheived. They’re judged by a set of impersonal rules and meritocratic principles.
What are meritocratic principles?
Where everyone is given equal opportunity to succeed
What function did Davis and Moore identify?
Education allocates children to their future work roles by making people compete for the best jobs to ensure they are filled by the most talanted people. Inequality is therefore important.
What evaluative points can be made about functionalism?
The education system doesn’t teach specialist skills well enough
Myth of meritocracy
Turmin says we don’t know when a job is more important
Marxists argue it transmits the ideology of the ruling class
Interactionalists say pupils are not passive
The New Right say the system fails to prepare them for work
How do Marxists critisize the functionalist view?
It transmits the culture of the ruling class
What points did Bowles and Gintis make?
The correspondence principle and the hidden curriculum
The legitimisation of class inequality
Althusser’s idea on education
Education is a ideological state apparatus maintaining class inequality
Willis’ study
Neo marxist
Studied working class “lads” - education reproduces inequality even when it is resisted
Criticisms of marxism
Ignores gender and ethnicity
Overemphasises class inequality
New right - Chubb and Moe
Marketisation raises standards through parental choice and competition
Government should enforce national curriculum for shared culture
New right beliefs
School should run like a business
Criticism of new right
Promotes inequality
Treats students like consumers
Ignores external problems
Liberal, radical and marxist view
Liberal - education is improving for girls e.g higher achievement
Radical - System remains patriarchal e.g male dominance in leadership
Marxist - Gender + class oppression; education supports capitalism and patriarchy
Feminism criticism
Overlooks ethnicity and class
Doesn’t always account changing patterns e.g female success
Interactionist - Becker
Teachers label students based on the ‘ideal’ pupil
Interactionist - Rosenthal and Jacobson
Self fulfilling prophecy - teacher expectations influence the performance on students
Interactionist beliefs
labelling, setting, streaming influence the students outcomes
Students can resist labels
Interactionist criticisms
Ignores wider social structures e.g capitalism, patriarchy
