Education Role and Purpose Marxism

Question 1

What are macro sociologists?

Answer 1

Sociologists who take an overview of society Marxists through a much more critical eye than functionalism

Question 2

What are Marxists 3 key ideas about education?

Answer 2

Part of the ruling state apparatus. Promotes ruling class values. Justifies and produces class inequality

Question 3

According to Marx why do workers accept the inequality s of the system?

Answer 3

Due to the economic base and super structure through false class conciousness

Question 4

What is the superstructure

Answer 4

Family, Education, CJS, Mass media, religion, political system

Question 5

What’s the economic base?

Answer 5

Capitalists, ruling class, means of production

Question 6

What are some examples of the idea of false class conciousness being flawed?

Answer 6

Strikes. Protests for things such as the cost of living

Question 7

What did Louis Althusser create the idea of?

Answer 7

When trying to discover why ordinary people accept their role in society instead of fighting it, he came up with the idea of the ideological state apparatus

Question 8

What’s the ideological state apparatus?

Answer 8

A tool to justify inequality such as the education system. It is a microcosm of capitalist society to teach us our subordinate position

Question 8

How does the Ideological State Apparatus work?

Answer 8

Hegemony: Pursading the proletariat to accept their values and beliefs.
Transmitting Ideology: Taught by the education system that capitalism is fair for all individuals

Question 9

4 examples of how schooling teaches viewing capitalism positively.

Answer 9

Rules. Looking down on countries like Russia. Meritocracy through grades. Staying in school in order to get a job is encouraged

Question 10

What did Bowels and Gintis come up with?

Answer 10

The correspondence principle and the hidden curriculum through studying the American school system

Question 11

What’s the correspondence principle?

Answer 11

When schooling mirrors work in a capitalist society.

Question 12

What example can the correspondence principle be critised by?

Answer 12

Schools have non essential things such as extra curricular that don’t prepare you for the world of work

Question 13

What’s the hidden curriculum?

Answer 13

Schooling corresponds with boring factory line production to prepare for their lot in society. They found that the best grades were achieved by hard working obedient children rather than the creative aggressive and independent ones.

Question 14

What are some examples of the hidden curriculum?

Answer 14

Achievement points. Detention. Punctuality and manners

Question 15

What are three ways that the education system can be linked to work?

Answer 15

School separates students based on ability- wages, different tasks and titles. Schools have a hierarchy- management. Schools days are structured- breaks at work

Question 16

What did Bourdieu come up with?

Answer 16

Cultural Capital

Question 17

What’s cultural capital?

Answer 17

The middle class values, knowledge and attitudes that are passed on by middle class people onto their children. These then help them to succeed in education. They have the advantage because they’ve been socalised into the dominant culture, they have the codes to unlock education and middle class parents have the knowledge how to play the system. A middle class student with cultural capital is more likely to be highly regarded by the school and teachers than a working class pupil as they have the same values. The point of education is to reproduce the values and acceptance of capitalism through this cultural capital.

Question 18

What are 6 examples of cultural capital?

Answer 18

Manners, language taste in music, literature, art and experiences,

Question 19

What’s cultural reproduction?

Answer 19

Takes place via soclialsastion of the young, middle class pupils grow up learning middle class values, succeed in education and gain middle class jobs., they then have their own children and repeat this pattern.

Question 20

What study did Paul Willis do?

Answer 20

An ethnographic study called the lads combining interactionalist and Marxist thinking. He found that lads rejected school and formed a counter subculture. They saw through capitalism and knew that even if they worked hard they would not succeed. Can be used to challenge the idea of false class consciousness

Question 21

What’s the repressive state apparatus?

Answer 21

Institutions such as the police system in contrast to the ISA which are institutions like the education