5.2 Education and social mobility Flashcards
- Equal opportunity and the idea of meritocracy. - The extent to which education systems are meritocratic today. - The importance of education in influencing life chances, and the consequences of education under-achievement for the individual and society. - Evidence and arguments about the links between education and social mobility.
Equal opportunity and the idea of meritocracy
What do we call societies with a degree of social mobility?
Meritocracies - whatever an individual’s starting position, they achieve the level in society that their talent and effort deserves.
Arguments against the functionalist view
What can be argued about the nature of societies today?
They are not meritocratic.
Arguments against the functionalist view
According to Bowles and Gintis, whilst meritocratic systems should involve contest mobility, modern education systems involve…?
‘Sponsored mobility’.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Sponsored mobility
Upper and middle class children enjoy a range of cultural advantage over their working class peers such as the ability to buy high quality education and resources. Their progress from school to high-paid, high-status employment is effectively sponsored by their parents.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Paterson and Iannelli (2005)
Argue that in Scotland, “many studies have shown education and the acquisition of educational qualifications are important means through which middle-class families pass on their social and economic advantage, rather than promoting greater social mobility, may in fact reduce it”.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Breen (1997)
Although a meritocratic society involves open competition for social resources such as education qualifications or adult employment, Breen argued that this only occurs at the lower levels of society.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Social capital
The networks and connections built through membership of elite private schools, such as Eton in the UK or Yale in the USA.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Conflict approaches argue education benefits higher classes how?
Education is a means through which the higher classes are able to cement their privileged social position.
It does this by making sure that social inequality is reproduced through a system that appears fair but which is really biased in their favour.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Althusser argues the reproduction of capitalism involves what?
New generations being taught the skills, knowledge and ideas required in the workplace.
Arguments against the functionalist view
What do Marxists argue the overall 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-powered elite working roles.
Arguments against the functionalist view
Aldridge (2004)
Argues that a key feature of modern industrial societies is a lack of occupational mobility for those lower down the class structure.
Arguments against the functionalist view
How do Bowles and Gintis argue cultural reproduction is secured?
Through the correspondence between workplace and educational inequality.
Arguments against the functionalist view
What do neo-Marxists claim the relationship between education and cultural reproduction is based on?
Legitimate leadership with the ‘consent’ of the led.
Things like the control of the media help with this ‘consent’. If people believe the system is meritocratic, then the system cannot be blamed- it’s down to the individual.
Arguments against the functionalist view
In Paul Willis’ (Learning to Labour), he questions what? What does his research suggest?
He questions the role of education and the view that it creates well-socalised, willing future workers in his study on working class ‘lads’.
His research suggests that some students are well aware of the limitations of education and work- they see through the system and consciously rebel against it.
Arguments against the functionalist view
What is main question when evaluating the functionalist view of education and social mobility?
How far the experience of education socialises students into an acceptance of capitalist ideology.
Whilst traditional Marxsists cast teacher in the role of ‘agents of ideological control’, an alternative interpretation is that many students realise they are destined for low status work and see little point in learning the lessons offered by the education system.
