Education 1b Flashcards
To understand Marxist explanations of the role and functions of education system, e.g. in relation to ideological state apparatuses, reproduction and legitimation of social class inequality
How do Marxists see the education system
They see it as a system based on class division and capitalist exploitation -The status quo is maintained through the control the Bourgeoisie have over the state as they keep their dominant position
How does education function to prevent revolution
- acts as a safety valve
- encourages conformity
- punishment knocks the rebellion out of people
According to Althusser (1971) what are the two state apparatuses that help keep the bourgeoisie in power?
- The repressive state apparatus (RSA) used force, or the threat of force to keep power
- The ideological state apparatus (ISA) controlled people’s ideas through the media, education, region etc.
What 2 functions does education fulfil as an ISA
- It reproduces class inequality, by failing each successive generation of WC pupils it transmits class inequality from generation to generation
- It legitimises class inequality by persuading pupils that inequality is inevitable, making it unlikely to be challenged
How is the education system best understood by Bowles and Gintis (1976)
The education system is best described as an institution that reinforces inegalitarian social relations by splitting pupils into the subordinate and the dominant by setting them into the bottom/top classes and through teacher/student relationships
All of which is learnt through the hidden curriculum
What is the role of education in a capitalist society according to Bowles and Gintis
- reproduce an obedient workforce
- accept inequality as inevitable
- they argue there are parallels between school and work through the correspondence principle
What are the 4 points of the correspondence principle
- Relationships of authority and control
- Relationships of domination and subordination
- Fragmentation of knowledge
- Motivation by external rewards
Explain relationships of authority and control in terms of the correspondence principle
- Hierarchy within school (between teachers and students) reflects hierarchy within the workplace
- It fosters deference to authority and acceptance of hierarchy
- Alienation due to lack of control in school is felt by workers through a lack of control over production
Explain relationships of domination and subordination in terms of the correspondence principle
- this relationship differs between schools and level of schooling, reflecting the different levels of the occupation structure
- mainly WC schools emphasise obedience, conformity, and dependability, discouraging independence, innovation, initiative, and creativity
Explain the fragmentation of knowledge in terms of correspondence principle
- this is only giving people enough information to pass an exam and not actually understand and do something we’ll just like in the workplace they only give you enough information to know what to do not to make it yourself without any help or else they could overthrow the upperclassmen
Explain motivation by external rewards through the correspondence principle
- Motivation is from extrinsic rewards and not interest in the actual subject
- This mirrors the motivation within the workforce of promotion and not interest in the job itself
How does school prepare WC pupils for their role as a worker
- Accustoms them to follow rules or deferring authority
- Accustoms them to showing discontentment and having low expectations
- Gets them used to being subordinate to someone else and having limited knowledge to make money and not necessarily enjoy their job
What do Marxists claim that the education system is and why?
They claim it is a ‘ gigantic myth-making machine’
- promotes the myth of meritocracy
- justifies the privileges of the higher classes
- persuades the WC to accept inequality as legitimate as it promotes the myth that the poor are dumb which stops them from rebelling against the system as they lack the cultural capital to state otherwise
How does the education system perpetuate (reinforce) class inequality from generation to generation?
- more opportunities for the UC than the WC to succeed
- Gives the illusion that the UC gain status through merit
- pulls the wool over the eye
How does the education system perpetuate (reinforce) class inequality from generation to generation?
- more opportunities for the UC than the WC to succeed
- Gives the illusion that the UC gain status through merit
- pulls the wool over the eye
How does the education system perpetuate (reinforce) class inequality from generation to generation?
- more opportunities for the UC than the WC to succeed
- Gives the illusion that the UC gain status through merit
- pulls the wool over the eye
How does the education system perpetuate (reinforce) class inequality from generation to generation?
- more opportunities for the UC than the WC to succeed
- Gives the illusion that the UC gain status through merit
- pulls the wool over their eyes
List evaluate points on the Marxists perspective on education
- conformity is not established in all schools, deeming some that come out as unfit to work
- may not have a hierarchy as there are favourites
- the hidden curriculum is exaggerated
- some schools lack authority over pupils
- some schools push WC pupils to do their very best
- some people accept low paying jobs as it is what they love to do
- not all teachers are about power and control some teach by reciprocal respect
- some protest at work or organise strikes which proves they are unhappy with their situation
How does Paul Willis’ (1977) study contradict the work of Bowles and Gintis (Neo-Marxism)
- his study of WC pupils explained why pupils reject school values and rules
- his work is less deterministic than Bowles and Gintis
- he rejects the Marxists view that schools brainwash pupils into passively accepting their fate, he argues that they were broken into accepting this
What did Willis find in his study of the group of 12 WC boys
- they developed an anti-school subculture (with inverted school values)
- the lads rejected educational qualifications as they knew it wasn’t essential for their work
- the anti-school subculture was similar to that seen on the shop floor by male manual workers
- the subculture found manual work as superior and non-manual work as inferior. Women and men who desired non-manual work as inferior to them.
What was the correspondence that Willis found between the attitudes and behaviours developed by the lads in school and the culture displayed on the factory floor by male manual workers
- the resistance and the rejection of school destined them for low skilled jobs and maintain their low class position
- their anti-school subculture helped the accept the inferior pay and conditions as they became accustomed to boredom and finding ways of amusing themselves and finding no satisfaction from work
How is the anti-school subculture not entirely adapted to the requirements of a capitalist workforce
- hidden criticism of individualism, egalitarian, meritocracy
- it underpins the education system specifically and capitalism generally
- individual effort and ability cannot change your position in society only collective action can
- see through the myth of meritocracy
Evaluate the Marxists approach on the legitimisation of inequality in the workplace
- Bowles and Gintis carry a deterministic approach this failing to explain why some people reject school values
- Willis shows how pupils reject school and how that leads them to having WC jobs, his work tends to romanticise the anti-social and sexist behaviour of the boys
How do critical modernists critise the Marxist approach
- say they take a first class approach, ignoring all other types of inequality apart from class inequality
- believe that there is a lot of diversity in society and that it is the job of sociologists to explain how education serves to reproduce and legitimise those inequalities
