Topic 5 - The role of education in society Flashcards
(39 cards)
MARXIST THEORY
Marxists are critical of the capitalist system and the inequality it produces.
Contrast to functionalists – a conflict view.
Society and education based on class division and exploitation
Althusser argues that the working class are controlled by the ruling class through 2 types of ‘apparatus’:
Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs)
and
Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs):
Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs):
Physical control through institutions such as the police, justice system & the military.
Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs):
Control over people’s ideas, beliefs and values (no physical force is used). These apparatuses pass on the ruling class’s dominant ideology. This is done through institutions such as the family, religion & education.
ATHUSSER: THE IDEOLOGICAL STATE APPARATUS
Althusser believes that education has replaced religion as the most important ISA.
The education system passes on ruling-class ideology & teaches basic skills needed to perform in capitalist society.
The W/C are essentially forced to fail & end up taking up low status, low paid, alienating work roles.
The R/C ‘go to the top of the pile’ & go on to university where they are trained to fill their R/C roles.
All of this means that social class inequalities are reproduced.
Ideology (sets of beliefs and ideas) is used to justify inequalities .
Workers accept their place and believe they deserve their position.
Meritocracy is a myth that has to be constantly reinforced so that inequalities are legitimised.
BOWLES & GINTIS:
SCHOOLING IN CAPITALIST AMERICA
Bowles & Gintis researched schools in the USA & concluded that education rewards those who will be submissive and compliant workers, e.g. rewards for punctuality.
Education limits student development rather than encouraging it.
THE CORRESPONDENCE PRINCIPLE AND THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM
(BOWLES & GINTIS)
The relationships and structures in education mirror those in work.
This operates through a hidden curriculum – not subjects but ideas, e.g. competition and hierarchy.
School prepares working-class pupils for work.
Bowles & Gintis believe that the R/C are able to manipulate the W/C through the hidden curriculum.
This consists of things that pupils learn informally for their experience of going to school on a daily basis. The hidden curriculum teaches the W/C the values needed within employment:
subservience
motivation
acceptance of hierarchy
fragmentation of knowledge
legitimisation of inequality
THE MYTH OF MERITOCRACY:
THE LEGITIMATION OF CLASS INEQUALITY
Danger for capitalism if the poor recognise the inequality of the system, as they may rebel.
The system must prevent rebellion.
Education is a ‘myth making machine’ designed to justify inequality by promoting the idea that failure is due to lack of hard work rather than injustices & inequalities of capitalist society.
The myth involves beliefs that:
Education is the path to success in work.
Those at the top deserve to be there as they have worked the hardest.
Likewise, those at the bottom are to blame themselves.
CRITICISMS OF BOWLES & GINTIS
They ignore other factors such as gender & ethnicity.
Not every student passively accepts the rules, regulations and ideology that the education system passes on. This can be seen in the work of Willis (1970).
PAUL WILLIS:
‘LEARNING TO LABOUR’
Willis conducted a study of 12 W/C ‘lads’ in their final year of school using unstructured interviews & observations (link to Methods).
He found that the lads had a counter school culture which directly opposed the values of the education system (& capitalism).
They rejected values of subservience, motivation & acceptance of hierarchy.
The lads actively chose to fail so that they could land their ‘dream jobs’ of manual labour.
Ironically, not accepting the system (through their counter-culture) meant the ‘lads’ ended up doing the unskilled labour that capitalism needed.
CRITICISMS OF WILLIS
Small sample (unrepresentative / cannot generalise findings)
The lads could have exaggerated / lied.
Willis ignores ‘conformist culture’ within education & only focuses on one small subculture
Feminists argue that Willis ignores females in his study & suggest that his work tells us more about masculinities rather than social class
EVALUATION OF MARXIST APPROACHES
Postmodernists say we now live in a different type of society – education reproduces diversity, not inequality.
Marxists disagree with one another on whether pupils are indoctrinated or have free will.
Ignores other forms of inequality – gender, ethnicity and sexuality.
Marxists argue that:
Education maintains and perpetuates the capitalist system by making sure there are lots of willing and docile workers and a small ruling class
Education brainwashes children into accepting their position in society
Education encourages the correct values and beliefs to uphold capitalism
The New Right suggest there are two main problems with state education in the UK
1) Britain has a declining and inefficient economy with too many working class people dependent on welfare benefits from the Government
2) Education is failing to raise standards among some students and to provide jobs
New Right perspective on education
Education should provide social solidity to promote national identity and a stable society
Education is integral to the economy and training future workforces
Role allocation is necessary, and a meritocratic system ensures students are allocated into most suitable jobs
What are the problems of education according to the New Right
The state control of education has led the UK to become a inefficient economy. This is due to state control crushing people’s initiative and stifling enterprise.
The welfare system, has led to a culture welfare dependency rather than looking for work.
State control means high government spending on education and benefits which is a drain on a country’s resources and results in high taxes and less money to invest in industry.
Chubb and Moe (1988)
argue state education imposes one type of school which does not consider different abilities and needs
They further argue education does not match needs of global economy resulting in loss of talent and opportunity
how would marketistation Improve the economic growth of the country.
An ‘education market’ will raise standards, which will give pupils better life opportunities as well as improve the economic efficiency and growth of the country. Furthermore, rising standards are essential in a global economy, where workers lacking high-level skills will lose their jobs to more highly-skilled workers from other countries.
Improve society. Raising standards means higher educational qualifications for those at the bottom (the working class), which in turn means better employment prospects, which will give working-class people a chance to escape from dependency on the welfare system
What does the New Right Propose to do?
New Right propose incorporating marketisation into the education system
Parents are consumers of education and have the right to choose the school they feel is best for their child
This means schools compete (like a business) to attract customers (parents/students)
By competing for each pupil, school would need to continually improve their service to attract customers
By instilling competition in education standard would rise in the UK (similar to private schools)
How would marketisation in education improve society
Improve society. Raising standards means higher educational qualifications for those at the bottom (the working class), which in turn means better employment prospects, which will give working-class people a chance to escape from dependency on the welfare system.
What would the states’ role be?
The state should create the framework for competition between schools (e.g. league tables and a national curriculum) which would provide parents with the information required for them to make choices.
The state also needs to ensure that the school transmits society’s shared culture through a curriculum that emphasises a shared national identity (e.g., assemblies & lessons).
functionalists beliefs about education
Functionalist argue that education, as an institution, acts as a secondary form of socialisation, where young people are allocated roles within society depending on their ability in a variety of different ways.
Davis and Moore role allocation (functionalists)
some individuals have greater talents
different social positions require different talents
the most able need to fill the more demanding roles
schools identify the most able and ensure that they are trained for demanding tasks
