Marxism and Education

Question 1

How do marxists view education?

Answer 1

• they believe that education is based of class division and capitalist exploitation

Question 2

What did did Karl Marx say about capitalism being a two class system? [2]

Answer 2

• the capitalist class / the bourgeoisie are the minority class
• the working class are forced to sell their labour power to the capitalists since they own no means of production of their own

Question 3

What is meant by ‘the capitalist class / bourgeoisie are the minority class’ ?

Answer 3

• MC control education system, they are the employers who own the means of production and make profits by exploiting the labour of the majority wc / proletariat

Question 4

What is meant by ‘the working class are forced to sell their labour power to the capitalists since they own no means of production of their own’ ?

Answer 4

• work under capitalism is poorly paid, alienating, unsatisfying and something over which workers have no real control
• capitalism is hidden by rules / order, teaches us to obey

Question 5

What did Marx believe would happen with both social classes as a result of this class conflict?

Answer 5

• Marx believed that ultimately the proletariat would unite to overthrow the capitalist system to create a classless, equal society

Question 6

What are 2 similarities between Marxist and functionalist views on the role of education?

Answer 6

• marxists agree with functionalists that education is an agency of secondary socialisation
• marxists agree with functionalists that education has an economic function

Question 7

What are 2 differences between Marxist and functionalist views on the role of education?

Answer 7

• rich make the myth that inequality is needed is maintain their power / wealth
• schools teaches us to obey and prepare to be exploited

Question 8

What did Althusser say about the transmission of capitalist values?

Answer 8

• according the Althusser, the education system acts as an ideological state apparatus, maintaining the rule of the bourgeoisie by controlling pupil’s ideas, values and beliefs

Question 9

What 2 ways does Althusser claim the education system transmits capitalist values?

Answer 9

• education reproduces class inequality
• education legitimises / justifies class inequalities

Question 10

What does Althusser mean by ‘education reproduces class inequality’?

Answer 10

• by transmitting it from generation to generation, failing each successive generation of WC pupils

Question 11

What does Althusser mean by ‘education legitimises / justifies class inequalities’?

Answer 11

• by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause to persuade workers to accept that inequality is inevitable
• if workers accept these ideas, they are less likely to challenge capitalism

Question 12

In what way does Illich support Althusser’s views on the transmission of capitalist values?

Answer 12

• Illich sees schools are repressive institutions which promote conformity and passive acceptance of existing inequalities by rewarding those who accept the school regime and excluding those who challenge it

Question 13

In what way does Freire support Althusser’s views on the transmission of capitalist values?

Answer 13

• Freire sees schools as repressive institutions, where learners are conditioned to accept oppressive relations of domination and subordination and to listen to their betters

Question 14

What do Bowles and Gintis say about capitalism?

Answer 14

• Bowles and Gintis argued that capitalism requires a workforce willing to accept hard work, low pay and orders from above

Question 15

What is Bowles and Gintis’ reproduction theory?

Answer 15

• according to their reproduction theory, the role of education is to prepare and reproduce an obedient workforce that will accept inequality as inevitable
• eg WC pupils will leave education equipped with skills to remain working class, so the class of origin becomes class of destination too

Question 16

What was Bowles and Gintis’s research about?

Answer 16

• they studied 237 new york high school students
• eg they found that students who showed independence and creativity tended to gain low grades, those who showed characteristics linked to obedience and discipline tended to gain high grades
• concluded that schools help to produce obedient workers that capitalism needs

Question 17

What is Bowles and Gintis’s correspondence principle?

Answer 17

• Bowles and Gintis argue that there are close parallels between schooling and work in capitalist societies

Question 18

What are examples of the correspondence principle?

Answer 18

• students get used to hierarchies such as head teacher, deputy head and head of year —> there are hierarchies in the work system such as bosses and managers
• schools dictate student’s appearance through making pupils conscribe to a uniform —> wearing a smart work attire to ensure you are dressed appropriately and represent the company (dress code)
• schools alienate pupils, students have little control over what they study or their time —> workers have to be dictated to work and shifts with no refusal
• school provides extrinsic rewards (qualifications at the end of exams) rather than intrinsic awards (choice of activities in lessons) —> promotions after achieving something (eg working for a certain amount of time)

Question 19

Why do Bowles and Gintis describe the education system as a ‘giant myth making machine’?

Answer 19

• myth of meritocracy justifies the privileges of the higher classes, making it seem as if they have gained it through open and fair competition, which in fact is an illusion
• it also justifies the “poor are dumb” theory of failure by blaming poverty on the individual (e.g. “I am poor because I didn’t work hard enough”) rather than on capitalism

Question 20

What is meant by the term ‘hidden curriculum’?

Answer 20

• the lessons that pupils learn in school that they are not directly taught

Question 21

What are examples of hidden curriculum taught in schools? [3]

Answer 21

• detention: punishment for bad behaviour which matches the nature of damage done, leads to self discipline
• checking uniform: getting used to dress codes and appropriate clothing
• prefects/head boy and girl: boss and manager in workplace, prepares for being given responsibilities by others

Question 22

What are the limitations of Bowles and Gintis? [2]

Answer 22

• Bowles and Gintis have been accused of exaggerating the correspondence between work and education (for example much modern work requires teamwork, which the exam system still uses individual revision)
• functionalists would criticise them for being too negative, their view of WC kids being turned into conformist workers is simplistic and faults to account for how school can improve a pupil’s life chances

Question 23

What do Marxists say about capitalism and it’s ability to function?

Answer 23

• all marxists agree that capitalism cannot function without a workforce that is willing to accept exploitation and view education as reproducing and legitimating class inequality

Question 24

What was Willis’s research into learning to labour - ‘the lads counter culture’

Answer 24

• method: carried out unstructured group interviews with participant observation
• sample: a group of 12 WC boys from a school in the midlands as they make the transition from school to work
• anti school counter culture: disrupt classes and flout its rules and values
• counter culture and manual workers shop floor culture both see manual work as superior and intellectual work are inferior
• counter culture in schools help maintain future class inequality in the workforce pace by helping people put up with monotonous jobs by developing coping strategies when taking on boring manual labour jobs

Question 25

What are the advantages of Willis’s research? [1]

Answer 25

• used 2 research methods = more detailed data

Question 26

What are the disadvantages of Willis’s research? [2]

Answer 26

• unstructured groups are unreliable (cant be repeated the same with other groups)
• hawthorne effect

Question 27

What did Willis’s research show about WC pupils?

Answer 27

• school indoctrinates the proletariat
• working class pupils can resist attempts to become indoctrinated