Education: Sociological Perspectives Flashcards
What are consensus theories?
Believe the education system is beneficial and is a working function of society.
What do functionalists argue?
Believe that education responds to the needs of the economy and provides the right amount of workers for the particular skills that the economy demands.
What does functionalist Durkheim argue?
Education is a key aspect of socialisation and acts as a form of social solidarity.
How does Functionalist Parsons develops Durkheim’s ideas further?
Parsons argues that school acts as a bridge between home and the wider society.
He says at home children are treated as individuals, but at school they learn through a meritocratic system.
What do functionalists Davis and Moore claim about education?
They claim that education prepares people for their future roles, a process known as role allocation.
What does the New Right say about education?
They education system should be run like a business and enable parents to have the choice in the school they send their children to.
What do New Right thinkers, Chubb and Moe, argue?
They argue that the introduction of market forces into education, known as marketisation, is beneficial to the education system as it helps improve standards and efficiency.
What are criticisms of consensus theory perspectives?
Argues that functionalists ignore the persistent inequalities that occur in education.
Consensus theories fail to consider the negative experiences that some students have at school.
New Right thinkers have been criticised for failing to acknowledge that when choice is introduced, not all students are able to utilise the choices available.
What are conflict theories?
Believe education is only beneficial to those in power, and is a way to reinforce inequalities in society.
What do Marxists argue?
Marxists argue that the education system acts as a means of socialising children into their respective class position, in a way that makes sure that they are unlikely to challenge the system. They point out that the education system supports capitalism by ensuring that w/c students are prepared for mundane repetitive labour.
What does the Marxist Bourdieu claim?
He claims that the m/c possess cultural capital, which places them at a distinct advantage.
He also claims that the m/c controls the education system, therefore, w/c students have m/c knowledge imposed on them, which places them at a disadvantage.
What does Marxist Althusser argue?
He argues that capitalist society cannot be maintained by force alone.
Althusser argues that a number of institutions, including education, legitimise inequalities through subconsciously introducing a particular set of ideas, or ideology.
What do Marxists, Bowles and Gintis say about education?
They found that the education system supports the capitalist system in three ways: through the myth of meritocracy, through the hidden curriculum, and the correspondence principle, which identified the similarities between work and school.
What do feminists argue?
Argue that the education system perpetuates a patriarchal ideology, even though girls now outperform boys at all levels of the education system, and are being lead into lower paid jobs.
What are criticisms of conflict theory perspectives?
Criticise the Marxist view as education offers students the opportunity to do well, and to increase their social position, a process known as social mobility.
Feminists have been criticised for underestimating the change in girls’ position educationally and for failing to consider the issue of gender more broadly rather than women only.
